Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski indicated yesterday he is looking for signs whether U.S. President-elect Barack Obama intends to move ahead with plans for missile defense installations in Europe, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 19).
The Bush administration effort calls for deploying 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. Obama has expressed skepticism about the plan, saying the technology must be proven effective prior to being fielded.
"I think what we now need is a sense of where the new administration is going," said Sikorski, who is in Washington for meetings with Democrats, including transition team member and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. "We think that this transition time is important for our interests because we signed with the current administration an agreement on missile defense and obviously we want to know where the wind is blowing on that."
Lawmakers in both European nations have yet to sign off on agreements reached by their respective governments. There appear to be particular concerns in the Czech parliament, though those could be resolved if Obama expresses his intention to move ahead with the project, Sikorski said.
"I think the Czechs will also be encouraged once they know what the new administration wants," he said.
No matter what happens with the interceptor plan, Washington plans to install a Patriot air-defense system in Poland in 2009. U.S. military personnel would operate the system, which will be a boon to Polish security, Sikorski said.
"The working assumption is that on the whole countries with U.S. troops on them don't get invaded," he said (Desmond Butler, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 19).
Warsaw does not intend to push Obama on the missile defense issue, Sikorski said: "We will tread carefully and wait until the new administration makes its decision" (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Nov. 20).
Sikorski said, though, that Poland would make further attempts to address Russian concerns about the missile shield, Reuters reported. Moscow has characterized the plan as a threat to its strategic security, and President Dmitry Medvedev recently threatened to deploy short-range missiles near Poland should the interceptor and radar sites be realized. Washington has argued the bases would be intended to provide protection against a potential missile threat from rogue nations such as Iran.
Officials in Moscow to date have rejected as inadequate confidence-building measures that would include opening the installations to Russian inspections.
"We will shortly put forward written proposals for confidence-building measures related to missile defense, on the basis of transparency and reciprocity," Sikorski said.
Russian officials would be able to conduct technical monitoring and inspections of the interceptor site, but would not be able to maintain a permanent presence there, he said.
"We would like Russia to have the confidence that whatever we declare might happen in those facilities, is indeed the case," Sikorski said (Susan Cornwell, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Nov. 19).
Supporters of the missile defense plan hope that Obama moves quickly ahead with the European sites, Politico reported today.
A six-month delay in reviewing the system "would be the same as killing it," said Peter Huessy, president of GeoStrategic Analysis.
" My hope would be that the administration would come out and say, 'From where we're sitting today, we don't want to interfere with the proposal that NATO has endorsed," he said (Jen Dimascio, Politico, Nov. 20).