Posted on 08/23/2007 12:50:03 PM PDT by lizol
U.S. criticizes Austrian official's comments on U.S. missile defense plans
By DESMOND BUTLER, AP Posted: 2007-08-23 14:40:36
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States said Thursday that comments by Austria's defense minister accusing Washington of provoking Russia with U.S. missile defense plans were unhelpful and reflected Cold War thinking.
In an interview in the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, the defense minister, Norbert Darabos said he did not believe there was a credible threat that would justify building the anti-missile system. He urged U.S. officials to seek a compromise with Russia, which fiercely opposes the plan.
The United States says the system, which would include 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar based in the Czech Republic, would help guard against a potential threat from Iran .
"I do not see this danger," Darabos, a Social Democrat , said in the interview.
"I regard it as a provocation that the U.S. now develops a missile shield in Eastern Europe," he said, contending that Washington's plans were "unnecessarily reviving old Cold War debates."
But a U.S. State Department spokesman, Gonzalo Gallegos, said that it was Darabos' remarks that reflected a Cold War mentality.
"We view the Cold War as being over," Gallegos said. "Such comments are not helpful and we now face a new strategic environment that requires us to move beyond Cold War thinking."
The U.S. plans have drawn some criticism from other European officials, but have been supported by the Czech and Polish governments.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg challenged Darabos' characterization, telling reporters in Prague that the shield was needed to secure the entire continent.
Gallegos said that the United States was working to ease Russian concerns. He said that officials and experts from both countries would meet in Russia in mid-September to discuss cooperation on missile defense.
The meeting will be the second in a series of talks that U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to during a meeting at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine early last month.
Im just waiting for someone to post Sasha Baron Cohen’s alter ego of the gay fashion designer from Austria.
Austria? WTF? Isnt it half the size of Rhode Island with a population of 37 people counting all the house cats?
Shocking stuff.
It was actually 38, but they sent Terminator to become California Governor.
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