ABC: Obama Camp Disputes Some Perceptions Abroad

[The Paperboy]

According to the Web site of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, in a conversation yesterday between him, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and President-elect Barack Obama, the newly-elected American president said "that the anti-missile shield project will be continued."

Obama also "expressed hope that the political and military cooperation between the two countries will be continued," the Polish President's Web site says, per Bloomberg News.

Obama disputes this characterization.

Obama already in a dust up with one of our allies.

Story here

 

[Annie]

Obama already in a dust up with one of our allies.

Story here

I think that would be Obama cavling under to the Russians.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Obama's Office Says `No Commitment' to Missile Shield in Poland
By Maciej Martewicz and Kristin Jensen

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama's office said the president-elect has made ``no commitment'' to a planned U.S. missile-defense system, after remarks on the Polish president's Web site suggested that Obama will press ahead with the shield.

Obama, in a telephone conversation with President Lech Kaczynski yesterday, said ``that the anti-missile shield project will be continued,'' according to a statement on Kaczynski's official Web site. Obama also ``expressed hope that the political and military cooperation between the two countries will be continued.''

Obama's office painted a different picture of the conversation.

``President Kaczynski raised missile defense, but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it,'' Denis McDonough, Obama's senior foreign policy adviser, said in a statement released to reporters. ``His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable.''

Obama had a ``good conversation'' with Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk about the ``important U.S.-Poland alliance,'' McDonough said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement with the Polish government in August pledging to modernize Poland's military in exchange for the former Soviet satellite hosting 10 interceptor missiles.

Since then, Polish lawmakers, a majority of whom are in favor of the shield, have expressed concern that an Obama administration might seek to postpone or cancel the system. The missiles are part of a defensive shield which includes a planned radar site in the Czech Republic that the U.S. says is necessary to protect against attack from ``rogue'' states such as Iran.

`We Don't Know'

``The American administration has changed. Whether the Americans' decisions will change, we don't know,'' Tusk said in an interview published in today's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. ``If the Americans decide to stop or suspend the project, for example because of financial reasons, we will just accept this information. We can't build it ourselves.''

Russia has repeatedly criticized the system as posing a threat to its territory. President Dmitry Medvedev said Nov. 5, just hours after Obama won the presidential election, that he would site short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian region wedged between Poland and Lithuania, to ``neutralize'' the planned defense system.

``Mr. Medvedev's declaration confirms for us the necessity of strengthening Poland's security,'' Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told parliament in Warsaw yesterday. ``In our view, missile defense will strengthen our security.''

Michael McFaul, a Russia specialist at Stanford University who advised Obama during his presidential campaign, said last month that the U.S. should keep open negotiations with the Russian government on a missile-defense system for Europe, and also support Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization.

``We don't believe in trying to isolate Russia,'' McFaul said in a phone interview, stressing that he was giving his personal view and not that of Obama. ``Those kind of actions we see as counterproductive in dealing with Russia.''

 

[tigerbob]

Obama already in a dust up with one of our allies.

Story here

The article goes on to say...

"President Kaczynski raised missile defense but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it. His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable".

Seems like a storm in a teacup.

 

[DavidS]

Obama already in a dust up with one of our allies.

Story here

A dust up? More like the best foreign-policy decision that's been made since the Wye Peace Accords in early 2001 by then-lame duck President Clinton. Iran does not possess any weapons that could reach Israel, let alone Poland right now, nor would Iran have any desire to nuke Poland. If Iran had a missile that could reach beyond its own borders, it would fire it at Israel and try to destroy Israel. This missile defense shield over Poland is one of the stupidest ideas the Bush presidency has ever thought up and we're aggravating Russia for no damned reason. Russia is just begging for an excuse to start a war - I really don't think we should give him one. If Obama scraps this missile shield, it would be one of the best ideas ever. Even JFK backed down about creating a missile shield over Turkey. STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! NO MISSILE SHIELD!

 

[editec]

A dust up? More like the best foreign-policy decision that's been made since the Wye Peace Accords in early 2001 by then-lame duck President Clinton. Iran does not possess any weapons that could reach Israel, let alone Poland right now, nor would Iran have any desire to nuke Poland. If Iran had a missile that could reach beyond its own borders, it would fire it at Israel and try to destroy Israel. This missile defense shield over Poland is one of the stupidest ideas the Bush presidency has ever thought up and we're aggravating Russia for no damned reason. Russia is just begging for an excuse to start a war - I really don't think we should give him one. If Obama scraps this missile shield, it would be one of the best ideas ever. Even JFK backed down about creating a missile shield over Turkey. STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! NO MISSILE SHIELD!

Baiting the bear again.

Why?

Seriously I see no advantage to doing it. Not for Poland and certainly not for the USA.

But for the manufacturers who create this technology?

Yeah, it's a real great idea for them, no doubt.

 

[Annie]

Baiting the bear again.

Why?

Seriously I see no advantage to doing it. Not for Poland and certainly not for the USA.

But for the manufacturers who create this technology?

Yeah, it's a real great idea for them, no doubt.

At least you put forth an argument, I don't agree with it, but that's better than I've seen tonight on several threads.

The 'defense shield' as you acknowledge it not aimed at Russia, but Iran. It's defensive, not offensive. I think a good argument can be made that the Iranians might choose to attack allies, rather than US direct, if they can.

 

[DavidS]

Baiting the bear again.

Why?

Seriously I see no advantage to doing it. Not for Poland and certainly not for the USA.

But for the manufacturers who create this technology?

Yeah, it's a real great idea for them, no doubt.

And for the investors in the corporation who build the technology. Baiting the bear? More like going to over a massive killer bee hive with a baseball bat and an empty can of RAID.

 

[DavidS]

At least you put forth an argument, I don't agree with it, but that's better than I've seen tonight on several threads.

The 'defense shield' as you acknowledge it not aimed at Russia, but Iran. It's defensive, not offensive. I think a good argument can be made that the Iranians might choose to attack allies, rather than US direct, if they can.

Iran doesn't have any missile technology that could reach Poland, nor has Iran ever threatened Poland, or Eastern Europe. Plus, as the news about the idea of this missile shield got out, it infuriated the Russians. While I'm all for doing what we want without another country's permission, I'm not all for going out and antagonizing another country for absolutely no reason.

 

[Annie]

Iran doesn't have any missile technology that could reach Poland, nor has Iran ever threatened Poland, or Eastern Europe. Plus, as the news about the idea of this missile shield got out, it infuriated the Russians. While I'm all for doing what we want without another country's permission, I'm not all for going out and antagonizing another country for absolutely no reason.

How does a defensive shield threaten another country?

 

[DavidS]

How does a defensive shield threaten another country?

Why do we need to put up a missile shield in Poland to defend against a country that doesn't even have technology to strike Poland? Iran's test launch that came about a few months ago was a complete dud and they faked it. Iran is barely a threat to Israel with its technology. How does Iran intend to hit Poland??

The Russians view it as us challenging them, which either we're trying to do or we're not. And if we're trying to challenge the Russians, then we're being stupid. If we're not trying to challenge the Russians, we're going out of our way to not challenge them. Our military is stretched thin right now and does one really believe that we will land US troops to defend Poland from a Russian invasion while we still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?

 

[Annie]

Why do we need to put up a missile shield in Poland to defend against a country that doesn't even have technology to strike Poland? Iran's test launch that came about a few months ago was a complete dud and they faked it. Iran is barely a threat to Israel with its technology. How does Iran intend to hit Poland??

The Russians view it as us challenging them, which either we're trying to do or we're not. And if we're trying to challenge the Russians, then we're being stupid. If we're not trying to challenge the Russians, we're going out of our way to not challenge them. Our military is stretched thin right now and does one really believe that we will land US troops to defend Poland from a Russian invasion while we still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Care to answer my question first? Thank you.

 

[Andrew2382]

The missle shield isn't meant to protect poland specifically you tard....it's meant to protect eastern europe


Iran Launches Nine Test Missiles, Says More Are Ready - washingtonpost.com

"The nine missiles tested by Iran included the Shahab-3, which has a conventional warhead weighing one ton and which Iran says has a range of about 1,200 miles -- sufficient to strike Israel and other U.S.-linked targets. John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense consulting group, said that missile, which has been adapted from an old North Korean model, clearly is being refined to deliver nuclear weapons"