United States President George W Bush and his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski reiterated Monday their plans to build a missile defence system in Europe.
The defence system would have two components placed in Poland and the Czech Republic, being designed to provide protection against a possible long-range missile attack from nuclear developed countries like Iran and North Korea.
“I do hope that all these projects - the whole project - will be completed successfully,” Poland’s leader Lech Kaczynski said.
Again, US found a vehement challenger in Russia, Kremlin even threatening it would aim its missiles towards Poland and the Czech Republic if the two countries give their thumbs-up for the shield.
Like a consolidation to this statement, Russia withdrew from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe on Saturday, a move that caused discontent among NATO members.
Kremlin proposed a compromise solution, offering a joint use of the radar base in Azerbaijan, but Washington said this site can’t provide proper security, being unable to counterattack in an emergency situation.
“There's no better symbol of our desire to work for peace and security than working on a missile-defence system, a missile-defence system that would provide a security for Europe,” the American leader said, referring to cooperation with Poland.
Aside from Russia’s opposition, Bush found it very hard to pass his project among Democrats, who refused to stretch-out the budget for 2008 in order to provide funding for the missile shield.
Kaczynski didn’t have an easier task either, many Polish politicians and people expressing their discontent towards the deployment of American troops on Poland’s territory.
Bush underlined this project has the purpose of defending a potential attack and under no circumstances is a threat fro Russia’s security, as Moscow said in several rows.
Russian officials also said Iran doesn’t have weaponry that could represent a menace for Europe, despite Bush’s claims that some “leaders don't particularly care for our way of life and/or are in the process of trying to develop serious weapons of mass destruction.”
