Bush to visit Poland

According to the Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita, President Bush will visit Poland after the G-8 conference in Germany June 6-8 to discuss a proposed missile shield. The plan calls for deployment of 10 interceptor rockets in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic by 2012 as part of a multi billion-dollar system designed to shoot down missiles from states such as Iran.

Poland's government supports the shield, saying it would boost Polish security. But public opinion is divided, with critics saying an installation could make Poland a target for terrorists.

Russian opposition to the proposal has been steadfast even though the rockets could not be used for offensive purposes.

The Bush administration is offeringRussia a new package of incentives to drop its strong opposition to American missile defense sites, including an invitation to begin linking some American and Russian antimissile systems, according to senior administration and military officials.

The continuing meat Polish meat embargo in Russia may be related to Poland's consideration of participating in the missile shield program.

The row has taken on wider proportions since Warsaw vetoed the opening of talks between the European Union and Russia on a new partnership agreement in retaliation over the embargo.
That new broad economic cooperation agreement will be aimed, among other things, at securing a reliable flow to Europe from Russia's massive oil and gas fields.

- - search earlier posts on the topic in this blog

http://polishtoledo.blogspot.com/2007/03/not-enough-security-from-nato-for-polsh.html#links

http://polishtoledo.blogspot.com/2007/02/poland-as-missile-shield-base-saga.html

http://polishtoledo.blogspot.com/2007/01/is-us-anti-missile-system-on-polish.html