PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP)
11 December 2008
The opposition Social Democrats say they plan to ask the Constitutional Court to rule whether a U.S. missile defense installation on Czech territory would be legal. …
www.pr-inside.com/czech-opposition-plans-missile-defense-challenge-r963302.htm
Over 100 prominent leaders launch the Global Zero campaign this week at a historic gathering in Paris, followed by briefings in Moscow and Washington, D.C.
Please add your name to rid the world of nuclear weapons and tell everyone!
BBC News – Friday, 5 December 2008
The US has successfully tested its missile defence system designed to intercept long-range ballistic missile attacks, the Pentagon says.
A spokesman said it was a crucial step in plans for the missile shield the US wants to base in Europe.
The target missile was launched from the Alaskan island of Kodiak before being tracked and destroyed by an interceptor launched from California.
Russia sees US plans to base such a system in Europe as a direct threat.
The US wants to build a radar on Czech soil and put 10 interceptor rockets in Poland as a defence against what Washington describes as “rogue” states.
Russia has said it will deploy short-range Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region to “neutralise” the US shield. …
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7768642.stm
Comment on this test by Martin Butcher, Independent Security Consultant
The Pentagon said in advance that this would be an ‘operationally realistic test’. However, the missile that was hit was on a low and slow trajectory, moving much less quickly than would have been the case from North Korea, Russia or elsewhere.
Secondly, the test was supposed to allow the interceptor to discriminate between the actual warhead and a number of ‘target realistic’ decoys, ie decoys that look like the warhead to the interceptor sensors. But the decoys failed to deploy.
The interceptor hit the missile, but the test overall was a serious failure in terms of ‘operationally realistic testing’, the standard that the Congress has imposed for deployment in Europe.
A detailed briefing on this from the Union of Concerned Scientist will follow soon.
By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday affirmed their support for U.S. plans to install anti-missile defenses in Europe despite Russia’s strong opposition.
The ministers said the planned U.S. defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic will make a “substantial contribution” to protecting allies from the threat of long-range ballistic missiles.
Russia has vehemently opposed the deployment, threatening to respond by placing short-range missiles in its westernmost region, Kaliningrad, which borders Poland. The U.S. insists the defenses are aimed at potential attack from Iran and pose no threat to Russia’s ballistic arsenal.
All 26 NATO allies signed the statement backing the deployment of interceptor missiles in Poland and an advanced radar station in the Czech Republic. …
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/03/international/i034741S93.DTL
Article published on Friday, November 28th, 2008
Source: KodiakDailyMirror.com – Daily newspaper of Kodiak, Alaska
“The Missile Defense Agency plans to launch a missile from Kodiak sometime near the end of next week, according to Dale Nash, CEO of the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation. The Department of Defense will announce exact time hours before the launch.
The launch, FTG-05, will simulate a missile attack on the United States. An interceptor missile will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. ” …
Monsters and Critics.com – USA
“Prague – US plans to place a missile defence radar in the Czech Republic cleared their first hurdle on Thursday, as the former Soviet satellite’s upper house passed the measure. ” …
“Russia has called the shield a danger to its own security and has threatened to aim its short-range missiles at the central European bases. ” …
Monsters and Critics.com – USA
“Prague – US plans to place a missile defence radar in the Czech Republic cleared their first hurdle on Thursday, as the former Soviet satellite’s upper house passed the measure. ” …
“Russia has called the shield a danger to its own security and has threatened to aim its short-range missiles at the central European bases. ” …
22.11.2008
Dear President-elect Obama:
Please accept our congratulations on your victory in the United States presidential election.
We address this appeal to you due to our concern for the preservation of the democratic process in the Czech Republic and for the security of the European community.
As you know, the Bush government and the Czech government have agreed to place the military radar base of the US National Missile Defense (NMD) system on Czech territory. Two thirds of the Czech citizenry do not, in the long term, agree with the arrangement. Despite thier opposition, the Czech government has signed agreements with the United States that are due to be ratified shortly by the Parliament. The current deputieswere elected before there was any public discussion about the project, however, and the involvement of the Czech Republic in the NMD system was not on any Czech parliamentary election platform.
The plan to place elements of this system in the heart of Europe is causing tension between USA and Russia, as well as between USA and the European Union, and will lead to a new expansion of the arms race. We are concerned that due to this advanced system, Europe will become the main battlefield in a potential international conflict and that the Czech Republic would be, due to the radar, the target of a first attack. The matter is made even more sensitive by the fact that after the fall of communism in 1989, the Czech people vowed that a foreign army would never again be stationed on their territory.
We kindly ask you to reassess the attitude of the US government towards the placement of NMD elements in Europe and to put a stop to this very dangerous and unstable project. We hope that the change so strongly symbolized by your victory will turn into reality, that the new American leadership can move us all in the direction of a world without wars and violence, and that the tendency towards the escalation of arms and military aggression will be replaced instead by investment into areas that contribute to real human development.
We entreat you as the president of a country that has long symbolized democracy to respect the will of the Czech citizens, who are being deprived of their democratic rights by their own government.
Yours faithfully,
Jan Tamás, spokesperson of Non-violence Movement
Dana Feminová, spokesperson of Europe for Peace
League Mayors against radar:
Jan Neoral, Trokavec mayor
Josef Řihák, Příbram mayor
Jitka Říhová, Láz mayor
Josef Hála, Jince mayor
Josef Vondrášek, Rožmitál pod Třemšínem mayor
Václav Hudec, Štítov mayor
Miroslav Leitermann, Nepomuk mayor
Ladislav Turek, Bohutín mayor
Josef Karas, Obecnice mayor
Stanislav Sláma, Drahlín mayor
Josef Škvára, Sádek mayor
Jan Kohout, Křešín mayor
Jiří Prokeš, Hluboš mayor
Radek Walter, Tochovice mayor
Václav Koubík, Hůrky mayor
Lubomír Fiala , Vísky mayor
Libor Štorkán, Felbabka mayor
Josef Hrubý, Zaječov mayor
Jiří Chvojka, Chaloupky mayor
Ladislav Stelšovský, Podluhy mayor
Bohumír Vítek, Volenice mayor
Karel Daniel, Vševidy mayor
Karel Dražan, Bezděkov mayor
Daniel Synek, Sedlice mayor
Pavel Hutr, Věšín mayor
Tomáš Čížek, Chrást mayor
Karel Palivec, Předmíř mayor
Stanislav Kramosil, Hvožďany mayor
Zdeněk Vrbka, Bratkovice mayor
Miloslav Suchý, Skořice mayor
Josef Stehlík, Vranovice mayor
In support
Giulietto Chiesa – EMP
Anna Curdova – deputy czech parliament
CAAB has also sent a message of congratulations to Barack Obama
AHN – USA November 18, 2008
The SOFA also gave Iraqi courts authority to try off-duty US soldiers who commit serious crimes in Iraq, assured that no permanent American military bases …
MOSCOW, November 18 (RIA Novosti) 18 November 2008
Russia is not satisfied with U.S. political guarantees on missile defense, the foreign minister said Tuesday …
As regards hypothetical political guarantees – they have been given to us repeatedly – on NATO non-expansion, on the issue of deploying significant armed forces on the territory of new NATO members, and on non-establishment of military bases …
