No Shield for Poland?

“Poland Without a Shield” reads today’s main headline in Poland’s biggest daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza. Of course, the somewhat unsettling text is referring to the planned missile shield that was to be installed in the country as part of a larger American missile defence system, with parts also located in the Czech Republic. However, now the newspaper reports that its sources in Washington have determined that the abandonment of the missile defence plans is “practically a foregone conclusion”.

Riki Ellison, a lobbyist with the Initiative for Missile Defence in Washington, D.C., told Gazeta Wyborcza: “The signals sent by generals from the Pentagon are absolutely clear: the current U.S. government is searching for other solutions in the case of anti-missile defence than bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.”

What this will mean for the two countries is still uncertain, as no concrete statements have come from the Obama Administration concerning these claims. However, alternatives to the planned shield include bases in Israel or Turkey, or a possible mobile anti-missile system proposed last week by Boeing.

See also: Missile Shield Decision to Come in September
Missile Shield Muddle