U.S. and Czech Republic AGAIN Having Radar Talks

1. 8. 2010 / Fabiano Golgo

The Czech government is negotiating with the White House to site a military missile defence plan. The early warning center on Czech soil will be part of NATO missile defense, according to prime minister Petr Nečas.

The premier said the US facility would detect missiles aimed at NATO territory and would be operated by Czechs. Washington has proposed investing $2 million in the project in 2011 and 2012.

Last year, U.S. president Barack Obama scrapped the George W. Bush-era project of long-range interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of a system to shoot down long-range missiles, supposedly aimed at Iran, but widely believed to be against Russia.

Probably because of such suspicions, the project was strongly opposed by Russia and became deeply unpopular among the Czech public opinion, although the mainstream media and top commentators seem to support it. In a controversial moment, some Op-Ed columnists from the top newspapers accepted an invitation to the American Embassy to talk to the ambassador, who wanted to know their opinion on the radar plans. With the exception of the journalist from daily Právo, all the others broke all ethical rules and told the highest local U.S. diplomat what they thought (they were in favor, to the satisfaction of the Bush envoy to Prague).

Czech activists are preparing to take to the streets again and the "No Bases" (Iniciativa Ne základnám) movement founder Jan Tamáš declared that "the issue is too serious for us to be silent."

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Obsah vydání | Pondělí 2.8. 2010