Russia, Stay Out of My Missile Shield!
Talks about a proposed missile shield being placed on Polish and Czech territory have now been going on since last week, but today Poland has upped the ante as it proverbially stuck its tongue out at Russia.
While Russia has long been saying that the idea of placing an American missile shield on the territory of its former allies is unacceptable and would be met with "appropriate measures" by Russia, this hasn't deterred both countries from entering into talks with the U.S. And now yesterday, Polish President Lech Kaczynski announced that Poland has no plans to discuss said missile shield with Russia. No doubt this statement will further increase tensions in Polish-Russian relations, in addition to a still-unsettled row over Polish meat exports. While Washington says the missile shield will protect the U.S. and its NATO allies from attacks from rogue states like North Korea or Iran, Moscow isn't buying that story, and President Putin has said that the shield would be a "destabilizing factor" in the whole of Europe and would threaten Russia's national security. Meanwhile, the Polish politicians see it as a guarantee that Poland won't fall under the influence of Russia, at least in the next few decades.
At the moment, talks between Poland and the U.S. are being carried out, and the countries hope to draft an agreement about the missile shield by the fall of this year. On June 8th, American President George W. Bush will visit Poland, undoubtedly to convince the Polish population that having a missile shield on its territory is a good idea, as at the moment, outside of the government not that many Poles are convinced. But all the same, Poland's president is telling Russia to butt out - "It [this issue] is between us and the United States." You can almost see him sticking his tongue out and yelling "So there!"...