Czech unease over US missile shield grows as Bush appeals to Putin
By Anne Penketh and Daniel McLaughlin in Prague
Published: 06 June 2007

President George Bush has sought to reassure the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, that US plans for a Europe-based missile shield are no threat to Russia. However, he risked stoking tensions by accusing Moscow of derailing democracy.

Speaking in Prague yesterday before heading to Germany for a G8 summit that has been overshadowed by talk of a new Cold War, Mr Bush stressed: "Russia is not the enemy."

"The Cold War is over. It ended," he said. Mr Bush held talks with Czech leaders who have endorsed US plans for a radar facility to be located in the Czech Republic as part of a missile defence system. But the plan is not popular in the country, with 72 per cent of Czechs opposed, according to latest opinion polls. Interceptor rockets are to be based in Poland, which Mr Bush will visit after the G8.

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Gus-bushit: ..."The Cold War is over. It ended," Mr Bush said... Then thinking the microphones had been switched off, he though aloud: "But I'm going to make sure we get another one... 'cause it's annoying to fight stoopid little wars in places like Iraq where one does not know whoooo's the enemy... Thank God for the oil there otherwise it would be a waste of *&^%$#@ money."

At the price of a pint of blood, he would have to think about the bottom line, would he not? 

From the BBC

Putin compares US shield to Cuba

Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared US plans for a missile shield in Europe to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s.

The crisis saw the US and Soviet Union go to the brink of nuclear war.

and from the NYT

Putin Denounces U.S. Missile Shield
By STEPHEN CASTLE
Published: October 27, 2007

MAFRA, Portugal, Oct. 26 — Attending his last scheduled summit with the European Union as president of Russia, Vladimir Putin moved to lower the diplomatic temperature today over a range of disputes with Europe, though he offered no concessions.

Facing international pressure over human rights problems and restrictions on free speech in Russia, Mr. Putin proposed setting up a new joint institute, perhaps based in Brussels, that would examine human rights issues both in Russia and in the European Union.

Sergei Yastrzhembsky, an aide to Mr. Putin, suggested that problems like neo-Nazism, ethnic tensions, minority rights and immigration could be put on the institute’s agenda. 

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Gus: see cartoon at the head of this line of articles... 

Russia has accused the United States of accelerating attempts to deploy anti-missile defences in central Europe, despite Russia's request for a freeze on the project.

The United States' negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic over installing the defences "have not only not been suspended, but additional measures are being taken to speed them up," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.

"There is the impression that the United States is trying to make the realisation of its plans irreversible," he said in a statement.

Mr Kamynin also reiterated Russia's dismissal of US accusations that Iran presents a military threat. Russia does not support "a holy alliance against this country," he said.

The ministry spokesman accused the US of failing to make good on a promise to put US proposals for resolving the dispute into concrete terms, while also failing to take seriously Russia's own proposals.

"Unfortunately the American side prefers not to pay attention that Russia's offer is an alternative - not a support" for US plans, he said.

The US and Russia are at loggerheads over US plans for deploying 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.

The United States says the shield would guard against potential threats from Iran.

Russia sees the US missile defence plans as a military encroachment in its former sphere of influence that could be turned against Russia's own nuclear deterrence.

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Gus: It would take barely one minute to change the targets on the US missiles... One minute they're facing east, one minute they're facing north...

From the BBC

Mr Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that the tests showed that "a missile defence shield with these parameters is not needed to monitor or react to such threats".

"We believe that any issue related to Iran should be resolved through negotiation, through political-diplomatic means... and not through threats," he said.

Moscow fears siting the system near its borders could weaken its own defences or be used to spy on Russia. It has previously threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.

Russia to move missiles to Baltic

Russia is to deploy new missiles in a Baltic enclave near Nato member Poland, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says.

Short-range Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region would "neutralise" the planned US anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, he said.

The US says its shield is a defence against missiles from "rogue" nations, but Moscow sees it as a direct threat.

see toon at top. and others in this site.

From the BBC

Russia's military has announced it will halt its plans to deploy short-range missiles in Kaliningrad, Russia's Interfax news agency has said.

A Russian military official said a change in US attitude had prompted the latest decision, Interfax reported.

President Dmitry Medvedev announced the plan in November last year, saying it was to counteract US plans for an anti-missile shield based in Europe.

Russia had said it saw the US missile shield plan as a direct threat.

see toon at top...