U.S., POLAND SIGN PACT ON MISSILE DEFENSE GLOBAL SHIELD

    ON AUGUST 20, THE UNITED STATES AND POLAND signed a deal to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia territory — a move followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response. Signing the deal with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed it as a breakthrough in international cooperation but stressed the missiles would only be used for defense. The United States also is planning to place a sophisticated tracking radar in the Czech Republic.

    For many Poles — whose country has been a staunch U.S. ally — the accord represented what they believed would be a guarantee of safety for themselves in the face of a newly aggressive Russian bear. Under the declaration, the United States also will improve Poland's air defenses, including deploying a Patriot air-defense battery operated by American troops. The negotiators, John Rood, for the United States, and Andrzej Kremer, for Polonia, sealed the deal the previous week against a backdrop of Russian invasion of Georgia, a former Soviet republic turned U.S. ally. The deal prompted Moscow's sharpest rhetoric yet over the missile system, which it contends is aimed at Russia.

    After the signing, Secretary Rice dismissed any suggestion the 10 missile defense interceptors — which Washington says are intended to defend Europe and the U.S. from the possible threat of long-distance missiles from Iran or North Korea — represent a threat to Russia. "Missile defense, of course, is aimed at no one," Rice said. "It is in our defense that we do this." She denounced a threat from a Russian general to target NATO member Poland, possibly even with nuclear weapons, for accepting the defense shield. "It's also the case that when you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988," Rice said. "It's 2008 and the United States has a firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."

    We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure and it strengthens our countries’ strategic partnership,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country has been pushing for the missile-defense system to be placed in Poland, told Secretary Rice after the signing. The United States will begin deploying the Patriot air and missile defense system next year, with a garrison to support it by 2012.