Czech community votes against US radar system

The residents of Trokavec, a Bohemian village with around 100 inhabitants, are protesting against the construction of a radar station for the US's missile defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland. The American base is to be built right next to the village. In a referendum 78 villagers voted against the project while only one voted in favour. Jiri Vancura comments: "People are asking whether a defence system against missiles from the east should be controlled by the Americans, NATO or the EU. But no one is asking whether such a system is at all necessary. No one is asking whether the new world order should be determined by weapons or whether it wouldn't be better to try to live in peaceful coexistence. There may be many obstacles to a peaceful solution but we still need to think along these lines. After all, we're talking about our planet here."

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