Poland to discuss missile defense forum

BERLIN - Poland's National Security Council will convene Monday to consider a suggestion from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that NATO is the best forum for discussing U.S. plans for a missile defense system based in eastern Europe.

Yet Polish President Lech Kaczynski suggested Saturday that he believes the issue should be decided bilaterally between Washington and Warsaw, not within NATO.

"In two days the national Polish security board will convene and it will make a decision on this issue, but I won't deny that I feel these are bilateral issues between Poland the United States," Kaczynski said on the sidelines of summit in Berlin marking the EU's 50th anniversary

The council consists of Kaczynski and his twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, parliament speakers and key government ministers.

The U.S. is working on a plan that would install missile defense sites located in Poland and the Czech Republic and has been talking with those countries directly about how to proceed.

Britain and Denmark are already cooperating with the American plan by upgrading radar sites in northern England and Greenland.

U.S. officials say the missile defense is aimed at protection from Iran, which it suspects of covertly trying to produce nuclear weapons. There are fears that Iran could tip a long-range missile with a nuclear warhead as early as 2015. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and geared solely toward producing electricity.

The missile defense plans have angered Russian officials, who say they could trigger an arms race.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that he does not trust U.S. claims that the missile defense is aimed to counter a potential threat from Iran, and warned of countermeasures. The head of Russia's missile forces said later that his forces would be capable of targeting the missile defense sites in both nations if the country's leadership decided to do so.

German Chancellor Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, has suggested that the U.S. should also include other allies by holding discussions through NATO. Merkel pressed that case during a recent visit to Poland, and Kaczynski soon after that said he would relay the suggestions to the National Security Council.

Source:sanluisobispo.com