Missile Defense System

As stated yesterday, the recent actions by Russia have highlighted the need to get the proposed missile defense system in place soon. Now, because of the economy issues facing the USA, it is unclear when and if the proposed missile defense shield will be in place. This issue is causing the Polish to take a second look at the issue, and the candidates.

Both candidates, in fact, back the plan. Obama, however, has said that he would want to test the effectiveness of the missiles before they are activated.

According to Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski:

""I have spoken personally to both Senator McCain and twice by telephone to Senator Obama. We are confident that President McCain would continue with the deal. Senator Obama told me that he is conceptually in favor of missile defence," he said.
"My interpretation of that is that it is a higher than 50 percent chance that he (Obama) would go along because we are pretty confident that it is not directed at Russia," he told reporters at an EU meeting in Avignon, France."

The Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg on Friday, September 26th said that Czech officials had been in contact with the campaigns of both presidential candidates, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, to discuss the future of the missile shield. He said a delay would be more likely if Obama wins the November 4 election.

Days after Russia's military intervention in Georgia this month, Poland and the United States signed a long-awaited deal to station parts of the shield on Polish soil.

The 10 interceptor rockets in Poland, along with a radar complex in the Czech Republic, will form the European part of a global system Washington says will be able to shoot down missiles from enemy states or groups such as al Qaeda.
Despite U.S. assurances to the contrary, Russia sees the ballistic missile shield as a threat to its own security and some Russian politicians and generals have said Poland must be prepared for a preventive attack on the site in the future.

This missile defense shield is not popular with the Russians. On Friday, September 26th, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, visited Warsaw, the first visit by a senior Russian official since Russia’s war with Georgia in August to an EU member state. Mr. Lavrov spoke of Warsaw’s deal with Washington for 10 interceptor missiles in the north of Poland:

“A simple military analysis proves that a US base in Europe for global anti-missile defence has no other, and for many years will have no other, target but Russian missiles “All objective experts understand that Iran’s missiles pose no threat to Europe and even less to the United States.” He added that Poland had naively been drawn into a dangerous game “perhaps not fully understanding the ramifications of its decision.” Complete Story

One of the sights for the proposed missile defense program is Slupsk, Poland – Slupsk is 65 miles away from Gdansk, (which we all know) was home of the Solidarity labor movement which helped overturn Poland’s communist system. Complete Story

Under the defense deal, 10 missile interceptors will be placed in underground silos at Redzikowo airfield, on the outskirts of Slupsk. By 2011 to 2013, they will work in conjunction with U.S.-run radar based in the Czech Republic to thwart a potential attack by Iran. In an attempt to quell the Kremlin’s worries, The U.S. Missile Defense Agency says the system cannot be used for an offensive attack without obvious modification of the football-sized field it will occupy.

"The people of Slupsk are more interested than ever in the U.S. election," Mayor Maciej Kobylinski said.

It will be interesting to see how this issue plays out in the future, especially given the weak state of the US economy. In the meantime, one thing is certain - both Poland and the Czech Republic will be watching closely.