U.S., Poland Set Tentative Missile Defense Deal

U.S. and Polish negotiators yesterday came to a tentative agreement on the Bush administration’s proposal to deploy 10 missile interceptors in the European nation, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 2).

The possible deal follows 18 months of negotiations that became more difficult for Washington when Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office in late 2007 and sought to secure more benefits for his nation.  The Tusk administration has requested billions of dollars worth of U.S. aid for Polish military modernization, AP reported.

Tusk and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski “now have to make a political decision:  yes or no” on the agreement, said Deputy Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski following his final round of negotiations with U.S. envoy John Rood (Anne Gearan, Associated Press I/San Luis Obispo Tribune, July 2).

Tusk was scheduled to meet today with U.S. Ambassador Victor Ashe to discuss the agreement, AP reported (Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, July 3).

However, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich today indicated that the talks were not through, Deutsche Welle reported.

“The negotiations have not ended — another round of talks was concluded — for the time being we are not at the finish line," Klich said on Polish radio.  “We completed an important, a significant, round of talks two days ago but the finish line of talks is still ahead of us,” he said, adding that “July is a long month” (Deutsche Welle, July 3).

If the Polish leaders sign off on the agreement, the next step would involve determining the legal status of the interceptor installation and the U.S. personnel posted there, AP reported.

U.S. President George W. Bush’s missile defense plan for Europe also includes an early warning radar in the Czech Republic.  Agreements on that site are expected to be signed this month.

Whether the plan survives past the end of the Bush presidency is an open question.  The United States is likely to have to spend billions of dollars and face a host of technical issues that could take years to resolve, AP reported.

The U.S. military has spent more than $100 billion and decades to produce the existing system, which includes land- and ship-based defenses, radar technology and systems that remain in development.  Debate persists on the system’s capability to counter an actual missile barrage from a nation such as North Korea or Iran.

Senator John McCain (Ariz.), the Republican nominee for president, has expressed strong support for the program.  His Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama (Ill.), has been more skeptical.

Russia continues to oppose U.S. missile defenses as a threat to its security.  The Bush administration plan will “bring risk rather than security,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.

Washington again dismissed Moscow’s claim.

“We keep repeating for the Russians’ benefit, as well as anybody else’s who is listening, this isn’t about Russia,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.  “As a matter of fact … we would like Russia to cooperate on the issue of missile defense” (Gearan, AP I).

Lawmakers in Moscow also took aim yesterday at Lithuania, which has been identified as a possible fallback site should missile defense talks with Poland fail, AP reported.

The lower house of parliament unanimously approved a statement threatening to send additional troops to the Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press III/USA Today, July 3).

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