Missile Defence Radar: Russia Will Cooperate

Prague - Cooperation with Russia on the U.S. missile defence system is possible, but Moscow should not have the right to veto where NATO security matters are concerned, Alexandr Vondra, Czech deputy prime minister for European affairs, said in a debate on TV Prima today.

The planned anti-missile shield is to include a radar base on Czech soil. The two Czech-U.S. "radar" treaties were signed by the Czech and U.S. ministers under George Bush's administration last year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on the ARD television on Tuesday she considers it necessary for Russia to take part in the missile defence shield project.

On Wednesday Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said he would welcome it if Russia joined the U.S. anti-missile shield project in a meaningful way.

Vondra (Civic Democrats, ODS) today said he expects the new U.S. government of Barack Obama to place a bigger emphasis, in connection with the anti-missile shield, on a dialogue not only in NATO but also with the Russian federation.

"Everything I know makes me believe that they will continue their anti-missile defence project," said Vondra, former Czech ambassador to the U.S.

He said, nevertheless, that Obama's team might make "slight corrections" to the project. It may earmark less money than what was originally planned, he added.

Vondra said the U.S. definitely will not give its missile defence project up.

Apart from the radar, to be built in the Brdy military district southwest of Prague and yet to be discussed by the Czech Chamber of Deputies, the Central European part of the shield is to comprise a base with interceptor missiles in Poland.

Moscow has sharply protested against the project which it considers a threat to its own security.

Washington asserts the shield is to be aimed against possible missile attacks from "rogue" countries such as Iran.

According to Vondra, Obama and his administration will now probably seek even more intensive cooperation with Europe, and also a dialogue with Moscow.

"We negotiated about the issue with Russia in the past two years," Vondra said, recalling that the U.S., too, offered ways of missile defence cooperation to Russia.

One of the then debated possibilities was the presence of Russian monitors at the U.S. bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, which, however, both Czechs and Poles rejected.

"The cooperation, however, cannot include a Russian right to veto where decisions on NATO security matters are concerned," Vondra said.

Author: ČTK

U.S. Ambassador to Prague, Richard Graber Ends Diplomatic Mission

Prague - U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Richard Graber ended his diplomatic mission today, on the day of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the new U.S. president, and he has already left home, Jakub Hornek from the Czech embassy press department told CTK.

The name of Graber's successor will probably be known only in the spring, he said.

Graber, 52, took office as ambassador to the Czech Republic in 2006. After Obama won the November presidential elections, Graber resigned from his post.

He is returning to Wisconsin where he was the head of the local Republicans for eight years since 1999.

According to his statements, he could either get involved in politics or return to his profession as a lawyer.

The Czech press speculated in the past that Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state in the U.S. government of president Bill Clinton, could replace Graber. However, Albright who was born in Prague and who leads a consulting company at present, has dismissed the speculation.

The U.S. embassy in Prague said that the name of Graber's successor would be announced in a few weeks or months.

"We believe the name of the new ambassador will be known only in the spring," Hornek told CTK, adding that President Obama would first have to appoint new ministers, their deputies and assistants.

"Only then the president usually starts appointing new ambassadors and the U.S. Senate must approve all these people," Hornek said, adding that according to him, the name of the new ambassador in Prague would be announced in March or April at the earliest.

Graber said previously that he considered last autumn's lifting of U.S. visa requirements for Czechs as his biggest achievement in the post of ambassador.

The move was the result of long-lasting efforts by diplomacy of the Czech Republic and other European countries.

Graber also said he believed that the construction of a U.S. missile defence radar base on Czech soil would be implemented.
So in case some of you don't know who the fella is on the left, that is Jiri Paroubek, asshole and MP, Prague.
The USA also has high hopes that the Czech parliament will finally approve the extension of Czech units' participation in Afghanistan, he said, alluding to the parliament's failure to do so in late December.