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Obama abandons 'Star Wars' shield on Russian border
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent17.09.09
America will ditch plans to build a "Star Wars" missile defence system in eastern Europe which put it at loggerheads with Russia.
Barack Obama's administration will cancel the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, which George W Bush said was vital to counter the threat from "rogue states".
The system would have used radars to detect missiles then launched counter-attack rockets to bring them down.
Poland was to host 10 interceptor launch stations and the Czech Republic a radar station. But Russia objected to the scheme, which it saw as intruding on its sphere of interest and targeting it rather than Iran or North Korea.
The Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, warned last year that "we will not be hysterical about this, but we will think of retaliatory steps".
Today it emerged that President Obama's officials will say the threat from Iran is not as serious as had been thought.
The decision is based on a "determination that Iran's long-range missile programme has not progressed as rapidly as estimated, reducing the threat to the continental US and major European capitals," the Wall Street Journal reported. The finding will come in a review that formally reports in Washington early next week.
The missile defence shield was seen as a key part of Mr Bush's foreign policy, but Mr Obama has moved away from neo-conservatism.
He has also tried to reduce tensions with Russia, talking about "re-setting" relations. The axing of the shield will be seen as a step to rapprochement.
The Pentagon is expected to order the development of regional missile defences for Europe. It said the administration "was expected to leave open the option of restarting the Polish and Czech system if Iran makes advances in its long-range missiles in the future".
But there were claims the decision would raise alarm in the old Soviet bloc. "The Poles are nervous," a senior military official told the Wall Street Journal.
Mr Obama told the Czech prime minister Jan Fischer about the decision in a phone call last night. Poland said it had not been formally told but admitted it did not believe it was likely the missles shield would be built.
"We know the review of the missile shield is not yet over and in 10 days I am going to Washington to find out," said Andrzej Kremer, Poland's deputy foreign minister.
