Jacques Rupnik on the US missile defence shield in the Czech Republic and Poland

In view of uncertainty over US President elect Barack Obama's stance on the US missile defence shield, Prague-born publicist Jacques Rupnik analyses the project in the liberal weekly Respekt, pointing out that technical problems persist to this day. The agreement by Poland and the Czech Republic to the assembly of components is for this reason "above all a test of both countries' loyalty to their American ally. But they both have behaved poorly. First they made bilateral agreements with the US. Then when they noticed that Russia as well as some Europeans had problems with this, they tried to present the project as beneficial for the entire alliance. ... But now it is hardly possible to stop the project. Moscow could understand that as an admission that its pressure and threats had won out."

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