USA-Poland Missile Deal

by Dr.Abdul Ruff Colachal

(August 22, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ignoring repeated warnings from Russia, the USA and Poland have at last signed a deal on 20 August to place a U.S. missile defense base about 115 miles from Russia and, as expected, the move was followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response. A former ally of Russia (then the Soviet Union) during the so-called Cold war under the Warsaw Treaty Organization, Poland’s decision to bring the NATO shield right up to Russian borders has obviously irritated the Kremlin. 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 assertive, oil rich Russia. Washington slams Moscow on its naïve threat perceptions, while Russia has also questioned the exacerbated threat perceptions of the world’s most powerful country.

A top Russian general had earlier warned Poland would risk a military strike if it allowed the base. Russia today threatened to go beyond diplomatic protests in response to the signing of a U.S.-Polish deal to base part of an American missile defense system in Poland, which borders part of Russia. But in addition to the threats, Russia is reportedly making a more concrete move to severe ties with NATO. Norway's defense ministry claims Russia has told it that it plans to cut all military ties with NATO.

Officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels said Moscow had not informed the alliance it was taking such a step. Washington described the reported move as unfortunate. "If this indeed is the case, it would be unfortunate. We need to work with Russia on a range of security issues, but we are obviously very concerned about Russian behavior in Georgia," U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed Russia's saber rattling, saying the threats "border on the bizarre." Rice said when Russia threatens Poland, it perhaps forgets that it is not 1988. “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." Obviously, international things are getting hotter.

Against whom?

Negotiators sealed the deal last week against a backdrop of Russian military action in Georgia, a former Soviet republic turned U.S. ally that has worried former Soviet satellites across Eastern Europe. It prompted Moscow's sharpest rhetoric yet over the system, which it contends is aimed at Russia despite Washington's insistence the site is purely defensive. USA claims the nuclear shield is to stop the so-called “rogue states’ from attacking the NATO states, especially the Iran from missiles attacking the USA. But Russia clearly sees it aims to destabilizing former communist Russia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed any suggestion of attack on Russia; Washington says the 10 missile defense interceptors are intended to defend Europe and the U.S. from the possible threat of long-distance missiles from Iran and they don’t represent any 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 an earlier threat from a Russian general to target NATO member Poland, possibly even with nuclear weapons, for accepting the facility. In Warsaw Rice said that the Russians are losing their credibility, adding that Moscow would pay a price for its actions in Georgia, though she did not specify how.

Poland and the United States spent a year and a half in formal talks, which snagged in the final phase on Poland's demands for the Patriot missiles and other points. However, the deepening U.S.-Polish friendship dominated Wednesday's proceedings. "In troubled times the most important thing is to have friends," Rice said. "But it is more important to have friends who share your values and your aspirations and your dreams. And Poland and the United States are those kinds of friends."

Rice said the deal will help both the alliance and Poland and the United States respond to the coming threats. Approval for the missile defense sites is still needed from the Czech and Polish parliaments. No date has been set for lawmakers in Warsaw to vote, but the deal enjoys the support of the largest opposition party as well as of the government.

Moscow’s Double Standards

Hours after the signing, Russia's Foreign Ministry warned that Moscow's response would go beyond diplomacy, without elaborating. The system to be based in Poland lacks "any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles," it said in a statement, contending the U.S. system "will be broadened and modernized”. Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher, who leads a key appropriations panel for missile defense, praised the deal. But she said that Democratic lawmakers intend to withhold funding for the interceptors planned for Poland until they are properly tested, which is a move that could delay the deployment for years.

The deal follows an earlier agreement to place the second component of the missile defense shield — a radar tracking system — in the neighboring Czech Republic, another formerly communist country now in NATO. "We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Rice after the signing. Many Poles agreed. "After what happened in Georgia, I believe that this is good protection for us," said a hospital worker in Warsaw. The Georgian conflict "made the Americans agree to this deal sooner because the Russians are getting too bossy," one Dziuba said.

Along with the main deal, the two nations signed a so-called "declaration on strategic cooperation," which is to deepen their military and political partnership. It includes a mutual commitment to come to each other's assistance immediately if one is under attack — enhancing existing obligations both have as NATO members. The declaration also was accompanied by a promise from the U.S. to help modernize Poland's armed forces and to place a battery of Patriot missiles there by 2012.

The double-standards being followed by Russia in US-led wars in Islamic world when it supports them in Afghanistan fully and in Iraq partially in return for safeguarding its economic and contract interests, has “empowered” its former allies also come closer to the USA. Poland has been a staunch U.S. ally in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It sent combat troops into Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition and had 2,300 troops deployed there at its peak. That has been reduced to about 900, who will be pulled out in October. At the same time, Poland has been building up its military presence in Afghanistan, where it currently has some 1,600 troops.

Helplessness?

Not all Poles were happy with US-Poland deal, however. Of course there are die-hard socialists and pro-Russian in Poland too. But many Poles oppose the deal for domestic reasons as well. An 82-year-old retired office clerk who lived through World War II, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them, and then experienced four decades of Moscow-dominated communist rule, said the Patriot missiles were a "kind of provocation" toward Russia. "This means a threat from the Russian side," she said. "I am not very pleased with this deal." Some residents in the northern Polish town of Redzikowo, where the missile defense facility will be located, fear it may expose them to retaliatory attacks or other dangers.

A Word

The global rivalry between the former “cold war” giants keeps uncovering the old cold hatred hidden frozen underneath their usual bilateral ties and rhetoric. Naturally wanting to restore its lost glory and super power status, Russia now feels seriously threatened by its former foe with safe cover of one of its former allies, Poland. Already the issue of disarmament, including nuclear, has created a serious wedge between these two world leaders seeking to dominate the world politics and space weaponization. Since the death of the 1972 ABM Treaty, Russia feels the heat of NATO maneuvers even though it tries to come along with it in some manner, but skillfully opposed by the USA. The latest move in signing of the Shield accord between Poland trying to enter NATO and USA has further sent cold waves across the Kremlin establishment situated along the Moskva River. One is not very sure if the old Cold War era is being revisited now by the former super powers. But then, they also quickly make us believe that what they do is not a part of any new “Cold War”.
- Sri Lanka Guardian