Obstacles ahead for missile defense
A US missile-defense system in Eastern Europe remains a distant prospect despite its high profile in US-Russia talks.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the July 9, 2007 edition
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WASHINGTON - – You'd think deployment of US missile defenses in Europe was imminent, given the way Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin sparred over the subject at last week's "Lobster Summit" in Kennebunkport, Maine.
Despite the goodwill generated by speedboat rides and swordfish dinners, Mr. Putin vehemently objected during the two-day meeting to US plans to push forward with antimissile sites in the Czech Republic and Poland.
In fact, US missile defense faces a long and winding European road – and Russian opposition is far from its only hurdle. The US still must strike basing deals with the Czech and Polish governments. And in Washington the Democratic-controlled Congress appears reluctant to fund the move, scrambling its near-term prospects.
"I can see money trickling to the system to keep it on life support," says Wade Boese, director of research at the Arms Control Association. "I don't think you're going to see something that is full-bore ahead."
At issue are a radar facility in the Czech Republic and a battery of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland that the Bush administration says are needed to guard against a developing missile threat from Iran.
Russian officials have long complained about these plans, saying the system as designed seemed aimed against them. According to US experts, the Russian government appears to be motivated both by a genuine worry about the eventual effect of missile defense on its hard-won nuclear deterrent and by irritation that the US may be expanding its influence in Eastern Europe, once the Soviet backyard.
"The Russians appear to regard almost ... any Western engagement with that former Soviet space as somehow inimical to Russian interests," said Steven Pfeiffer, former US ambassador to Ukraine, at a recent Center for Strategic and International Studies briefing on US-Russian relations.
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