Europe News
Prague taken by surprise by Putin offer on Azerbaijan radar
Jun 7, 2007, 17:43 GMT
Prague - Czech Republic Premier Mirek Topolanek reacted coolly Thursday evening to events at the Group of Eight summit in Germany where Russian President Putin offered to operate a radar station in Azerbaijan jointly with the US.
Putin made the offer to US President George W Bush in their talks in Heiligendamm, on the provision that the US would refrain from its planned missile defence shield system in Central Europe.
In Prague, Topolanek said he regarded Putin's offer as an attempt by Russia to put Central Europe back under the Russian sphere of influence.
However, he said it was a breakthrough the fact that Putin was now in principle willing to negotiate with US President George W Bush on the issue.
Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova called the Putin offer of jointly operating a radar system in Azerbaijan a 'bolt out of the blue.' But she added: 'However, I welcome the possibility of broader cooperation in this project.'
Ondrej Liska, the foreign policy spokesman for the Greens, a coalition partner in Topolanek's government, said the Putin offer was confirmation that there was no longer a 'cold war' going on.
The Czech Republic is one of the proposed venues for the controversial US anti-missile defence system which Washington says is needed to help protect Europe against potential attack from Iran.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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I wonder if this means Czechia and Poland have to pay back the bribe money paid by the US for that useless pile of junk they call the Strategic Missile Defense System? For sure The Czechs and Poles aren't so dumb and scared as to actually PAY for such a monument to irrational paranoia. Iran doesn't have a missile that can reach central Europe, and the US doesn't yet have a missile capable of shooting it down if it did. And this of course assumes that the world has gone as mad as those policymakers who have reversed the hopeful process of nuclear disarmament the world was undertaking before the Bush administration took over. We may joke about the way he pronounces 'nuk-u-ler', but his escalation of nuclear arms development aint funny. I challenge the notion that anyone deranged or suicidal enough to try to nuke the USA with a missile, would ever reach the position of power necessary to put such a scheme in motion (I wouldn't put it past Cheney though, provided the target was weak enough to not hit us back - he may be crazy, but he aint suicidal). Once again the American taxpayer will pick up the tab for our 'defense', and the money goes right in the pockets of investors in the arms industry, while our children are under-educated, without healthcare, and in debt before they're born.
Hey, Colbert, why do you call the country 'crappy' and its people pathetic, just because you disagree with their prime minister??? Does not make you look too sharp, buddy!
No, Lisa, I call things 'crappy' and 'pathetic' when they actually are crappy and pathetic. Tell us why Czechs are still afraid of Russia, even though they are members of EU and NATO?
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colbertJun 7th, 2007 - 19:37:50
Czechs are pathetic. Topolanek is a complete asshole. What kind of 'Russian control' this clown is talking about??? His little crappy country is a member of EU, NATO, and he's still afraid of Moscow? This is plain bad acting at this point.
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