A proposed American missile shield to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic is designed as a radar system and missile battery to counter projectiles from rogue countries like North Korea and Iran.
A proposed American missile shield to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic is designed as a radar system and missile battery to counter projectiles from rogue countries like North Korea and Iran.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in a Dresden speech: "The missile defence system which is to be installed in Eastern Europe is politically extremely dangerous. It is viewed, rightly in Russia, and not only there, as an attempt to establish an absurd encirclement policy, a policy which is everything but in the interest of Europe" ( International Herald Tribune, March 12, 2007).
Of course, Schroeder is on the Russian-owned Gazprom's payroll, acting as an advocate of Russian policy.
Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel walks a fine line on the issue. Publicly she has adopted a different view from Schroeder's, previously calling it a European and NATO matter. "Merkel's private position on the shield, as it is described within the party, is that it's a good idea that would protect Germany against Iran."
But politically Merkel cannot afford to altogether ignore the rampant anti-Americanism now afflicting Germany, of which the former chancellor is the main spokesman. (Source: International Herald Tribune. )
