Poland 'agrees' to host US shield

[mujahideen]

Poland 'agrees' to host US shield

Poland and the US have reached an agreement in principle to install a controversial American missile defence system on Polish soil.

In return for hosting part of the shield, the US has said it will help bolster Poland's air defences.

The US wants to install interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.

Russia opposes the project, saying it would destabilise global security and undermine its own nuclear deterrent.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the plans to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s, which saw the US and Soviet Union go to the brink of nuclear war.

Russia has threatened to point missiles at Europe if the US positions elements of the new missile shield near its borders.

'Middle of the road'

In response to this threat, Poland says it wants help to upgrade its air defences.

Speaking in Washington, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said he was satisfied that the security concerns Poland had raised would be dealt with.

"There is still a great deal of work for our experts... But yes, I am satisfied that the principles that we have argued for have been accepted," he said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "We understand that there is a desire for defence modernisation in Poland and particularly for air defence modernisation in Poland. This is something that we support because it will make our ally, Poland, more capable."

America wants to install 10 interceptor missiles to protect against possible attack by what it calls rogue states, such as Iran and North Korea.

But Mr Sikorski said there was still a long way to go.

"We are not at the end of the road as regards negotiations. We are in the middle of the road," he said.

"We have an agreement in principle."

Any final agreement will have to be ratified by the Polish parliament.

The Czech government aims to submit a draft accord on the radar base to parliament in April.

 

[mujahideen]

‘US backs modernising of Polish air defences’

Sunday, February 03, 2008

WASHINGTON: The United States supports modernising Poland’s air defences, a key Polish demand for hosting part of a planned missile defence system, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday.

The Bush administration wants to locate 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar installation in Czech Republic under a $3.5 billion plan to defend Europe and the United States against a possible missile attack from Iran and other “rogue states.”

Russia fiercely opposes the plan and has said it will take unspecified “tangible” measures if construction begins on the system’s infrastructure - prompting Poland to ask Washington for more security guarantees if it goes along.

“We understand that there is a desire for defence modernisation in Poland and particularly for air defence modernization in Poland,” Rice told a joint news conference with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. “This is something that we support because it will make our ally, Poland, more capable.”

Sikorski, on his first trip to Washington as foreign minister of Poland’s new centre-right government, said there were more negotiations to come but he was satisfied that his country’s arguments had been accepted.

“We have an agreement in principle.” he said. “There is still a great deal of work for our experts. ... But yes, I am satisfied that the principles that we have argued for have been accepted.”

Rice said negotiations with Poland would resume as soon as possible on details of the missile defence project. She said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk would visit Washington in early March and he and President George W Bush could then “go forward” on the matter.

Sikorski said Tusk would make final decisions for Poland.

Neither Sikorski nor Rice detailed how the air defences could be modernised. Poland’s Defence Minister, Bogdan Klich, has suggested Washington bolster the air defences with new short-and medium-range systems like the Patriot missile in exchange for Warsaw’s missile shield cooperation. Sikorski has said Poland feels no direct threat from Iran but takes seriously US concerns about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile technology.

During his visit, Sikorski has expressed concern about saber-rattling from Moscow - Poland’s Warsaw Pact overlord for nearly a half century after World War II - and whether the Polish government would be able to sell the missile shield plan to a sceptical Polish public. To do so, he said, any deal must make Poland and the United States more secure.

Rice emphasised the United States’ commitment to Poland’s security was sealed when Poland joined the Nato in 1999. “Of course, our commitment to Poland’s security and to Poland’s defence is unassailable,” she declared.

But she also sought to assure Moscow the missile shield was not a threat to Russia.

She said the world was in “a completely different environment” than during the Cold War, when the United States had a Strategic Defence Initiative antimissile programme aimed at the Soviet nuclear threat.

“This is not that programme. This is not the son of that programme. This is not the grandson of that programme. This is a very different programme that is meant to deal with limited threats,” Rice said.

“There is no way that a few interceptors in Poland and radars in the Czech Republic can degrade the thousands of nuclear warheads that the Russians have. And there is no intent to do so.”

‘US backs modernising of Polish air defences’