Posted on 05/16/2008 8:01:39 PM PDT by Flavius
WARSAW: Whenever the United States sends missile defense negotiators to the Czech Republic and Poland, where the Bush administration intends to deploy parts of its anti-ballistic shield, they encounter surprisingly different attitudes.
In the Czech Republic, where negotiations are all but complete, the administration deals with a government that believes that the threat the shield is designed to counter comes from Iran and other "rogue" regimes.
"Our rationale for agreeing to accept the radars stems from the fact that we agree about the threats," said Nikola Hynek, a security expert at the Institute of International Relations in Prague.
In Poland, traditionally one of the closest U.S. allies in this part of Europe, Donald Tusk's center-right Civic Platform coalition has taken a dramatically different stance. It believes the threat comes from Russia, not the Middle East.
"Look at our backyard. There is Russia. There is the tension between Georgia and Russia. There is uncertainty in Ukraine and unpredictability in Belarus," said Pawel Swieboda, director of demosEuropa, an independent research center in Warsaw. "That explains the Polish attitude toward security."
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
There is one thing I don't understand about this administration. It has provided few rewards for the allies that helped us in Iraq. In fact, Bush is probably doing even more things for countries that haven't helped us. I don't think he has his dad's attention to detail. During Desert Storm, a lot of countries contributed a lot of stuff, and they came away from it liking us more. My feeling is that he has been right on many of the big issues, but doesn't even have the political instincts of his father.
Of course the Poles feel more of a threat from Russia than from Iran. Unfortunately, the missle “shield” isn’t going to help them much from Russian missles. Not setup to handle a massive strike.
I think Poland would like to be as integrated as possible into NATO and the US command structure. And if that means stationing worthless equipment on its soil, they are all for it. Personally, I think if the Russians get stupid and try to take Poland again, they will be in a world of hurt.
“In doing so, it expected some rewards - for instance, reconstruction contracts for Iraq or at the very least, a visa waiver by the United States for Polish citizens.”
This statement is spot on. At the same time, criminals can flood our souther border and are only threatened with amnesty.
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