... Well then no change... ... Missiles will still be in Poland... Grrr

[bart]

Knew there was no hope...

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7717669.stm

 

 

--------------------------------------

S President-elect Barack Obama will go ahead with plans to build part of a controversial missile defence system on Polish soil, Poland has announced.

 

President Lech Kaczynski's office said the pledge was made during a telephone conversation between the two men.

 

Russia opposes the US plans, and early this week said it planned to deploy missiles on Poland's border and electronically jam the US system.

 

This is the first signal that Mr Obama plans to continue George Bush's policy.

 

During the US election campaign, Mr Obama said he wanted to review the system to build a missile defence system in central Europe to ensure it would be effective and would not target Russia.

 

Moscow says the plan to locate 10 interceptor missiles in northern Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic will do exactly that.

 

In his first state of the nation address earlier this week, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Moscow would neutralise the system by deploying short-range missiles in its western enclave of Kaliningrad on Poland's border.

 

The US military insists the shield is incapable of destroying Russian rockets and is designed solely to knock down long-range missiles fired from the Middle East.

 

This is also the first signal from the US president-elect that he has no intention of backing down in the face of the Russian threats.

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I am not happy about this...

 

 

At all !!!:veryangry2:

[Saffire]

It'll be interesting to see how Obama justifies this...

 

Anyway, he's probably only doing it so Russia knows he "means business" - even though he's not a Republican. Democrats always feel like they have something to prove when it comes to foreign policy.

[mc_squared]

What everyone's forgetting is that Barack is merely a figurehead. As an individual, he doesn't really have that much power whatsoever. As always, there are powerful forces at work behind the scenes................................... ;)

[Matter-Eater Lad]

Obama; Bush's 3rd term!

[Maldini]

Ditto

[bart]

Yeaaaaaaaa !!

 

Obama denies Poland missile vow

US missile interceptor test (file pic)

The US plans a global shield to protect against "rogue" states

 

US President-elect Barack Obama has not given a commitment to go ahead with plans to build part of a US missile defence system in Poland, an aide says.

 

He was speaking after Polish President Lech Kaczynski's office said a pledge had been made during a phone conversation between the two men.

 

But Mr Obama's foreign policy adviser, Denis McDonough, denied this.

 

Russia opposes the US scheme and has announced plans to deploy missiles on Poland's border as a counter-measure.

 

On Friday, EU leaders said the decision would not contribute to creating a climate of confidence or to the improvement of security.

 

'No commitment'

 

In a statement published on his website on Saturday, Poland's president said Mr Obama had "emphasised the importance of the strategic partnership of Poland and the United States and expressed hope in the continuation of political and military co-operation between our countries."

 

 

His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defence system when the technology is proved to be workable

Denis McDonough

Foreign policy adviser to Mr Obama

 

"He also said that the missile defence project would continue," the statement added.

 

When asked about the declaration, McDonough said that the US president-elect had had "a good conversation" with Mr Kaczynski about the American-Polish alliance and discussed missile defence, but "made no commitment on it".

 

"His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defence system when the technology is proved to be workable," Mr McDonough told the Associated Press.

 

In the past, Mr Obama has said he wants to review the plans for a missile defence system in central Europe to ensure it would be effective and not target Russia.

 

But the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says the Russian government believes the plan to locate 10 interceptor missiles in northern Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic will do exactly that.

 

In his first state of the nation address on Wednesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Moscow would neutralise the system by deploying short-range missiles in its western enclave of Kaliningrad on Poland's border.

 

The US military insists the shield is incapable of destroying Russian rockets and is designed solely to guard against missile attack by so-called "rogue states", such as Iran.

[Matter-Eater Lad]

So what if he denies it to the public? He's still probably going to move forward with it anyways. And when he does you can see how big of a hypocrite he is.

[busybeeburns]

In 1997 everyone thought Tony Blair was the saviour of the UK.

[Maldini]

You means the mass media, it's what the media said not the pure thoughts of the ordinary people.

[Matter-Eater Lad]

In 1997 everyone thought Tony Blair was the saviour of the UK.

 

I find that extremely shocking.:shocked2:

 

From savior to most hated, how odd.

[Black Rose]

In 1997 everyone thought Tony Blair was the saviour of the UK.

 

Getting elected with a promise of Changes to the old system.

 

How history repeats itself, hopefully Obama won't be the same as Blair and run your country into the ground so bad that you will go cap in hand to the world bank for some money.

[Saffire]

I find that extremely shocking.:shocked2:

 

From savior to most hated, how odd.

 

What's going to be really fun to watch is Obama's charisma bumping up against the reality of the terrible policies he implements. This is going to create a sort of schizophrenia in the media and public opinion - should we continue to line up behind this youthful, good looking, well-educated black guy, or were we wrong to vote for him in the first place?

 

Ideally it will remind the public how worthless charisma and an ivy league degree really are.

[Tnspieler1012]

He'll probably just rub it off on Bush again...explaining how every misfortune of the Obama Administration was somehow the result of Bush's failed policies...

[Black Rose]

Or say that the contracts were already signed, that to break the contracts would have cost a lot of money or something.

[Matter-Eater Lad]

He'll use fancy words to talk his way out, and people who only look at his looks and how well he can talk will believe him.....(we have quite a few of those people on here). I remember one lad telling me he wasn't corrupt because he wrote a good book!!! haha

[Matter-Eater Lad]

Getting elected with a promise of Changes to the old system.

 

How history repeats itself, hopefully Obama won't be the same as Blair and run your country into the ground so bad that you will go cap in hand to the world bank for some money.

 

I can tell you now he will becuase his policies are failed policies of Bush and other failed leaders.....how can failed policies work for him? Maybe he thinks his good looks and speaking well, will fix it.

[Saffire]

I can tell you now he will becuase his policies are failed policies of Bush and other failed leaders.....how can failed policies work for him? Maybe he thinks his good looks and speaking well, will fix it.

 

I fully expect that next winter, Obama will get on TV to tell us to buy cardigan sweaters (a la Jimmy Carter) because of how expensive it will become to heat our homes. And people will think "Oh, what a nice man!"

[a_face_of_light]

In 1997 everyone thought Tony Blair was the saviour of the UK.

 

Well hopefully no one will be silly enough to think Gordon Brown is in 2009/2010,there's only one thing I think the Labour party deserve now and that's a humiliating defeat, thier arrogance,policy and spin makes my blood boil.

[bart]

I am starting to think the Russians are backing Iran !

Otherwise by now someone would have suggested why that they offer to help the west with the possible fret from countries like Iran !

 

In addition it would not shocked if they were helping out anti western terrorist groups.. ! Like Al Queda etc (the russians this is)

 

Someone may want to make the peace here, however the fret of war and the on going war against terror is keeping some people in pocket and it may be their best interests to keep the whole thing going on and on !! I don´t know.. !

[Matter-Eater Lad]

I'm sure we help/fund anti russian terrorist groups as well. Its a fucked up cycle we need to stop but Obama won't.

 

I sometimes think were(U.S.) trying create another Soviet Union, our government always needs an enemy.

[bart]

I'm sure we help/fund anti russian terrorist groups as well. Its a fucked up cycle we need to stop but Obama won't.

 

I sometimes think were(U.S.) trying create another Soviet Union, our government always needs an enemy.

 

You really need to watch spooks !

I am pleased also these days we are finding common ground on these issues !!!

:thumbsup:

[Saffire]

I'm sure we help/fund anti russian terrorist groups as well. Its a fucked up cycle we need to stop but Obama won't.

 

I sometimes think were(U.S.) trying create another Soviet Union, our government always needs an enemy.

 

This is a really interesting point. I don't mean to be conspiratorial but as long as government policies in America revolve around the phrase "War on...(insert bad concept here)" then it will consciously or subconsciously build up enemies in order to justify its own existence.

 

Terrorism never really was as grave a threat as we've been told, but we've put hundreds of billions of dollars (trillions even) and thousands of American lives toward the cause of fighting Al Qaeda. Not to mention destroying our civil liberties in the process.

 

By the time another Soviet Union pops up, I'm afraid the substantive differences between it and America won't be as striking as they were during the first Cold War.

[bart]

A positive Sign !!!

 

Russia 'pinning hopes on Obama'

Dmitry Medvedev speaks at the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington (15 November 2008)

Mr Medvedev said Russia would not do anything until the US took the first step

 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he hopes US President-elect Barack Obama will help rebuild the strained relations between their two countries.

 

In a speech in Washington, Mr Medvedev said that a new US administration might be able to address what he described as a lack of "necessary mutual trust".

 

He said he wanted to meet Mr Obama soon after he takes office in January.

 

The Russian leader also indicated that Russia might accept a compromise over a planned US missile shield in Europe.

 

Two weeks ago, he said Moscow would neutralise the possible deployment by the US of a tracking radar in the Czech Republic and missile interceptors in Poland by stationing short-range missiles in its western enclave of Kaliningrad.

 

The US insists the shield is incapable of threatening Russia and is designed solely to guard against missile attacks by "rogue states".

 

'Encouraged by signals'

 

In his speech to the Council on Foreign Relations following the G20 summit on the global economic crisis in Washington, President Medvedev welcomed the election of Mr Obama on 4 November.

 

"US-Russian relations lack the necessary mutual trust. We pin such hopes on the arrival of the new US administration," he explained.

 

 

We have a chance to solve the problem through either agreeing on a global [anti-missile] system or, as a minimum, to find a solution on the existing programmes which would suit the Russian Federation

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

 

Mr Medvedev said Russia had a strong "strategic partnership" with China, "a very good, full-fledged, friendly exchange".

 

"Of course I want to have the same kind of relations with the United States," he went on.

 

Relations between Moscow and Washington have been particularly strained since August by Russia's war with Georgia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

 

Mr Medvedev said the first step to restoring relations would be a meeting soon after Mr Obama's inauguration, "without prevarications or preconditions".

 

The president also said that Russia would not be the first to escalate the situation over the plans for the US missile shield in Europe.

 

"We will not do anything until America takes the first step," he said.

 

The Iskander missile system. File photo

Moscow says it will neutralise the US system with short-range missiles

Mr Medvedev said he had been encouraged by signs that Mr Obama was less enthusiastic about the shield than President George W Bush.

 

"[The] first signal we received shows that our partners plan to think about this programme rather than to simply rubber-stamp it," he said.

 

The Russian president also for the first time suggested Moscow might accept changes to the US shield plans, rather than simply their abandonment.

 

"We have a chance to solve the problem through either agreeing on a global system or, as a minimum, to find a solution on the existing programmes which would suit the Russian Federation," he added.

 

Cuba trip

 

On Friday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Mr Medvedev about deploying missiles in Kaliningrad, which borders Poland.

 

At an EU-Russia summit in Nice, both sides agreed there should be no provocative moves before another meeting next year to discuss Moscow's security plans.

 

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has announced that Mr Medvedev will visit Cuba as part of a Latin American tour this month.

 

He was already scheduled to visit Brazil and Peru as well as Venezuela, whose President Hugo Chavez has an antagonistic relationship with the US.

 

Correspondents say Washington's irritation will increase now that he will become the first Russian leader in eight years to visit Cuba, a key client of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

 

 

 

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This is encouraging sounds coming from the Russians !! Lets hope the new admin wants to play ball !!