The Financial Times: American missile defense cannot protect Central Europe
5.1.2008 - The Financial Times
The missile defence system is designed to protect the eastern US seaboard against a nuclear attack from the Middle East. Poland and the Czech Republic stand to gain little direct security from the shield bases on their territory (…)
"The system itself doesn't actually help Poland's security. In fact it creates additional problems by angering the Russians," says Dariusz Rosati, a former Polish foreign minister. (…)
One question is whether the countries concerned have increased risks to themselves by agreeing to site these missiles there. Theodore Postol, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has argued that the curvature of the earth would prevent the US early warning radar at Fylingdales in the UK from seeing missiles from Iran aimed at the Czech or Polish sites. Philip Coyle – a missile defence expert with the Center for Defense Information in the US – says that, for this reason, US statements that the system would protect people in the Czech Republic and Poland from Iranian missiles are "misleading".
"The system itself doesn't actually help Poland's security. In fact it creates additional problems by angering the Russians," says Dariusz Rosati, a former Polish foreign minister. (…)
One question is whether the countries concerned have increased risks to themselves by agreeing to site these missiles there. Theodore Postol, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has argued that the curvature of the earth would prevent the US early warning radar at Fylingdales in the UK from seeing missiles from Iran aimed at the Czech or Polish sites. Philip Coyle – a missile defence expert with the Center for Defense Information in the US – says that, for this reason, US statements that the system would protect people in the Czech Republic and Poland from Iranian missiles are "misleading".
Source (British): Russia pushes Poles, Czechs closer to US. The Financial Times 21.2.2007
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