Free Republic

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland should host parts of the planned U.S. missile shield despite threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said on Thursday. Poland, the biggest NATO member from the former communist Warsaw Pact, is in talks with the United States on stationing 10 interceptor missiles on its soil as a part of the shield, despite strong opposition from Russia. In his last annual news conference as president on Thursday, Putin said Moscow could aim its missiles at countries hosting the system. But, when asked whether the threats would affect talks with Washington, Kaczynski said Warsaw...

A Republican presidential candidate says that if elected president he would move forward with plans to put anti-ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe -- to counter any potential missile threat from Iran or a rogue terrorist group. Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-California) had served as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee until the Democrats took control of Congress in January. The California lawmaker also has one of the most extensive national defense resumes among the presidential field. Hunter says if he becomes president, he will make the missile defense shield one of his top priorities. "At some point we may...

This is a bad time for anyone who still clings to the belief that Europe will one day wake up to the potentially catastrophic consequences it faces from attack by a variety of foes – whether rogue states with nuclear weapons or Islamic extremists with dirty bombs. The first hammer blow to the continent's belated attempts to develop a credible defence policy came with the election win last weekend of Donald Tusk's Civic Platform in the Polish general election. The size of Mr Tusk's victory owed much to the widespread unpopularity of the Kaczynski twins – opinion polls showed that...

Central Europe Socialists reject U.S. missile shield By Jan Korselt PRAGUE (Reuters) - Central European Social Democrat parties rejected on Thursday a U.S. plan to build part of its missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying it threatened to bring about a new arms race. Top Socialists from Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia said after talks in Prague that any such system must not be built unilaterally or bilaterally. "We are concerned about the decision to deploy the system and are at one with the large majority of our populations in rejecting it,"...

Missile Defense: Vladimir Putin thinks the U.S. should station part of its missile shield on Russian soil. Given his country's increasingly belligerent ways, that doesn't strike us as a very good idea. The U.S. and its NATO allies have long wanted to set up missile defense outposts in Eastern Europe. Russia's recent behavior only makes it more necessary. It has shown a tendency to revert to its old Soviet ways of paranoia, seeing U.S. machinations behind every Russian setback.

YALTA, Ukraine (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton on Friday cast doubt on the effectiveness of a planned U.S. missile shield, deriding it as a "colossal waste of money." Clinton said the defense system, parts of which are to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, had created unnecessary difficulties with Russia, which denounces the plan as an attempt to undermine its defense capabilities. "My facts may be wrong, but my impression is that we are creating a crisis here when none is necessary," Clinton told a conference in the Ukrainian resort of Yalta on the ex-Soviet state's relationship...

By Mark John and Andrew Gray BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States told Russia on Thursday a Kremlin offer to share a radar site in Azerbaijan could not replace U.S. plans to site a missile shield in eastern Europe. "I was very explicit in the meeting that we saw the Azeri radar as an additional capability and that we intend to proceed with the ... radar in the Czech Republic," U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said after a meeting of NATO and Russian defence ministers. Gates played down hopes of an early end to the months-long dispute with Moscow over...

National Security: Vladimir Putin says the U.S. missile defense will turn Europe into a "powder keg." But the only powder keg we see is the one Russia's president is creating as he seeks a Soviet-style recrudescence. That the U.S. would pursue a missile defense system is only logical. We have lots of enemies — both real and potential — that might want to do us harm. There's North Korea, which has made it quite clear it's seeking ways to deliver nuclear missiles to our shores, putting Hawaii, Alaska and much of the West Coast at risk.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, in an interview with Interfax on the eve of his visit to Russia, said there are no reasons for revising country’s position on deployment of elements of the U.S. missile defense on its territory. “The Czech Republic has begun talks with the United States on the deployment of U.S. radars in our territory, and I do not think that things should be revised,” the president said. “I know that Russia was informed of U.S. plans long time ago, and the U.S. missile defense cannot be used against Russia,” Klaus said, adding that he will try to...

Russia may stop implementing a key defence treaty because of concerns over US plans for a missile shield in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said. Mr Putin made the threat during his annual address to parliament - which he said would be his last as president. He also hit out at an influx of foreign money which he said was being used to meddle in Russia's internal affairs. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed Russian concerns over the missile shield as "ludicrous". BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Mr Putin's speech marks a significant raising of diplomatic stakes. The Russian...

Russian Vice-President Sergei Ivanov says his government is not willing to co-operate in the construction of a missile defence system for Europe. Earlier this week, the United States suggested Russia should take part in the system, saying it would be to Moscow's advantage. The Bush administration plans to station missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic as a defence against possible attacks from North Korea and Iran. The US offer was designed to allay Russian concerns about the project. Meanwhile, NATO members states are holding wide-ranging talks on the anti-missile shield. Many European countries would prefer a system backed by...

KALININGRAD - Deployment of U.S. missile-defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic is an attempt by the U.S. to control Europe, the former Soviet president said Thursday. "It is all about influence and domination in Europe," Mikhail Gorbachev said. "I believe it is wrong that America did not even bother to consult its NATO allies." Russia, which has been anxious about NATO bases that have appeared in former Communist-bloc countries and ex-Soviet republics, has blasted the plans to deploy anti-missile systems in Central Europe as a national security threat and a destabilizing factor for Europe...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in central Europe would undermine global non-proliferation efforts and demanded serious discussions on the issue with Washington. "These plans will effectively remove the possibility of dealing with the threat to the nuclear non-proliferation regime with diplomatic means," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote in the German newspaper Handelsblatt. The United States wants to deploy a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland by 2011-12. It says the system would counter threats from so-called "rogue states" like Iran and North Korea. Tehran...

Russian Space Forces and Foreign Ministry are currently discussing the questions of placing anti-missile radar stations in Russian diplomatic missions in foreign countries, the Space Forces commander has said. Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin said in an interview with the Russian magazine Novosti Kosmonavtiki (Space Industry News) that the move will give Russia the opportunity to register the first stages of missile launches “that we cannot see from Russia’s territory” and adjust the flight tasks for the anti-missile weapons if an extraordinary situation occurs. The general went on to say that the new generation quant optical stations require virtually no maintenance and...

The U.S. anti-missile shield project, which is strongly opposed by Russia, risks creating “new lines of division in Europe,” French President Jacques Chirac warned March 9. ”The project raises numerous questions which require consideration before they are answered,” the French leader told a press conference following a summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels. ”We have to be very careful not to encourage new lines of division in Europe,” said Chirac, attending his last formal European summit. The United States wants to build a bank of 10 interceptors in Poland from next year to shoot down missiles...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. plans to base a missile defense system in eastern Europe could reopen old divisions on the continent, French President Jacques Chirac said on Friday. The United States wants to base the system in Poland and the Czech Republic so that any missiles fired by what it calls "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea can be shot down. "We should be very careful not to head toward new lines of division in Europe and a return to an out-dated order," Chirac told a news conference after a summit of EU leaders in Brussels. "It raises...

WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) - Germany called on Friday for talks on creating a NATO missile defence shield for Europe, a day after the United States vowed to press ahead with its system without alliance approval. The head of the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency said on Thursday Washington wanted to secure the understanding of its 25 NATO members for its plans to build a missile shield in eastern Europe, but was not seeking their green light. The United States' European allies are concerned the move will damage their ties with Moscow, and Germany has led calls for wider consultations on the...

Poland sought to reassure Russia on Oct. 5 a U.S. anti-missile system that could be sited on Polish soil would pose no threat to it; but Moscow warned any deployment could have implications for its defense planning. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on a visit to Poland, said he remained concerned about the proposal, part of the U.S multi-billion dollar Missile Defense Initiative (MDI), which would use rockets to shoot down ballistic missiles carrying nuclear, chemical or bacteriological warheads. Washington is seeking to put tracking systems or interceptor missiles in underground silos in Poland or the Czech Republic, both members...

Text of report by Polish news agency PAP Warsaw, 5 October: The Russian foreign affairs minister, Sergey Lavrov, expressed the hope today that the negotiations process over the deployment of parts of elements of the US antimissile defence in Poland and other states would be a "transparent" one. Asked by reporters whether the issue of deployment of the US antimissile shield in Poland was among the subjects raise in their talks, Lavrov said that it had been. "We raised the issue of the antimissile shield. We spoke about NATO ideas with regard to the setting up of such a system;...

Eastern Europe Shuns Missile Shield As the Pentagon scouts Poland and the Czech Republic for possible locations for its planned missile defense shield, locals are proving to be less than enthusiastic about the idea. With its planned new missile defense system, sometimes known as "Son of Star Wars," Washington wants to create a battery of defenses capable of protecting the United States and its allies from oncoming missiles -- nuclear or otherwise. A working version of the defense system does not yet exist and a number of tests have resulted in failure, but Pentagon officials are already scouring Eastern Europe...