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Current AffairsBush to visit Prague in effort to win over Czechs on missile defence
The United States is rolling out the big guns as it tries to persuade those
opposed to placing part of its missile defence system in Europe. On Monday
the head of the Missile Defence Agency is due to meet Czech officials and
MPs in Prague, while the Czech government has confirmed that US President
George W. Bush will also visit the country in June. So will these
high-profile visits allay Czech fears over missile defence?
More
Talking PointNation divided over plan to locate US radar base 70km from Prague
The United States' plan to extend its missile defence system to Central
Europe has not only angered its old Cold War adversary Russia, it's also
prompted a lively debate in the countries that would be on the sharp end
of it. If all goes to plan, Poland would host an interceptor base - meant
to shoot down incoming missiles from countries such as Iran - while the
Czech Republic would host a radar station - meant to track those missiles
as soon as they break cloud cover. The Czech government has said a
cautious "yes" to the facility, which would be built in a range
of hills about 70 kilometres from Prague in the Brdy military grounds. More
Current AffairsNew group wants "rockets not radars" - but are they serious?
There has been a great deal of talk in the last couple of months about US
plans to build part of its anti-missile defence shield - a radar - here in
the Czech Republic. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek welcomes the idea,
though the Czech government has yet to reach a decision on the issue. In
the meantime, there have been a number of demonstrations against the radar
base. Now, however, a new civic group has emerged with the title "we
don't want radars, we want rockets". Is this some practical joke, or
are they
serious? That's a question I put to spokesman Martin Kotas. More
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