By LOLITA C. BALDOR, AP, Feb. 11, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. fighter planes intercepted two Russian bombers, including one that buzzed an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific during the weekend, The Associated Press has learned.
A U.S. military official says that one Russian Tupolev 95 flew directly over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz twice, at a low altitude of about 2,000 feet, while another bomber circled about 58 miles out. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because the reports on the flights were classified as secret.
The Saturday incident, which never escalated beyond the flyover, comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over U.S. plans for a missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Such Russian bomber flights were common during the Cold War, but have been rare since.
The bombers were among four Russian Tupolev 95s launched from Ukrainka in the middle of the night, including one that Japanese officials say violated their country's airspace over an uninhabited island south of Tokyo.
U.S. officials tracked and monitored the bombers as two flew south along the Japanese coast, and two others flew farther east, coming closer to the Nimitz and the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton.
As the bombers got about 500 miles out from the U.S. ships, four F/A- 18 fighters were launched from the Nimitz, the official said. The fighters intercepted the Russian bombers about 50 miles south of the Nimitz.
At least two U.S. F/A-18 Hornets trailed the bomber as it came in low over the Nimitz twice, while one or two of the other U.S. fighters followed the second bomber as it circled.
The official said there were no verbal communications between the U.S. and the Russians, and the Pentagon has not heard of any protests being filed by the United States. Historically, diplomatic protests were not filed in such incidents because they were so common during the Cold War era.
This is the first time Russian Tupolevs have flown over or interacted with a U.S. carrier since 2004.
In that incident, a Russian Tupolev flew over the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan on Jan. 29, 2004. Since then, however, relations between the U.S. and Russia have deteriorated to their worst point since the Cold War, largely due to the United States' plans to put a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 missile defense interceptors in Poland.
The U.S. has defended the plan as necessary to protect its European allies from possible attacks by Iran. But the Kremlin has condemned the proposal, saying it would threaten Russia's security.
"We are being forced to take retaliatory steps," said Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also warned that a new arms race is under way.
Japan, meanwhile, filed a formal protest with the Russian Embassy in Tokyo after Saturday's incident, saying that one of the Russian bombers crossed into Japanese airspace for three minutes. Russia has denied there was an intrusion.
--
On the Net:
U.S. Navy Carriers:
http://www.navy. mil/navydata/ fact_display. asp?cid4200& tid200&ct4
Defense Department: http://www.defensel ink.mil
Showing posts with label Poland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poland. Show all posts
PM: Poland to end Iraq mission in 2008
By VANESSA GERA, AP, Nov 23, 2007
WARSAW, Poland - Poland's new prime minister outlined ambitious plans for the next four years in his inaugural address Friday, saying he plans to withdraw troops from Iraq next year but also push for stronger relations with NATO.
In a three-hour speech to parliament, Donald Tusk laid out a vision for the country that includes more capitalism — privatization, tax cuts and simplifying business laws — to bolster the economy of this ex-communist country.
While Tusk and his Civic Platform party want to continue the strong friendship with the U.S., he gave a taste of plans that, taken together, would suggest that the country plans to assert more independence in its relations with Washington.
Tusk said that, by the end of next year, Poland would withdraw its 900 troops from Iraq, where it leads an international contingent of about 2,000 soldiers from 10 nations in the south-central part of the country.
"We will carry out that operation with the conviction that we have done more than what our allies — especially the U.S. — had expected from us," he said.
Tusk's call for a pullout came as no surprise. He campaigned on promises to end the unpopular mission, clashing on the issue with his opponent, then-incumbent Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who argued that withdrawing would amount to desertion.
His twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, who is the armed forces' commander in chief, supports staying in Iraq longer and has the power to authorize foreign military missions. But he cannot unilaterally extend a mission the government wants to end.
Poland's mission in Iraq has the president's authorization until the end of the year. Tusk and the president will have to hold talks to decide when and how to end the mission.
Tusk said he planned to keep Poland's 1,200-member force in Afghanistan next year.
U.S. State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said Friday that the U.S. had been discussing the issue with the new Polish government and was grateful for Poland's contribution.
"Poland had indicated that it will consult fully with the United States and other allies when conducting their withdrawal to ensure that there is not any reduction in stability in the area they are leaving," Vasquez said.
Tusk also said he will resume talks with the U.S. on accepting a U.S. missile defense base in Poland — but only after consulting with NATO and other neighboring countries — signaling a greater hesitancy over the plan than the previous government.
"NATO is the main pillar and guarantor of Poland's security," Tusk said.
U.S.-Polish talks on the missile shield plan began earlier this year under Kaczynski's government, which strongly supported hosting a site as a way of bolstering the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Russia has sharply opposed U.S. plans to deploy missile defense installations in Poland and the neighboring Czech Republic, saying it would destabilize the balance of power in the region.
Many of Tusk's points were met by applause in the chamber, although the sheer length of his speech — the longest by a prime minister since the fall of Communism — was clearly an annoyance to some.
Some lawmakers could be seen rubbing their eyes or dozing off, while an opposition lawmaker slammed Tusk's long speech as reminiscent of long-winded Communists.
"Donald Tusk is the Fidel Castro of Polish politics," said Zbigniew Girzynski, a lawmaker with Law and Justice.
Tusk, who was sworn in a week ago, spent the largest part of the policy speech on domestic issues. He vowed to lower taxes, reduce the state deficit and put the country on the path to adopt the euro currency "as soon as possible." However, he gave no date.
Tusk pledged to simplify business regulations and speed up privatization. He said less government interference was needed to stimulate private enterprise in Poland, which shed Communism in 1989.
He also said a priority of his government would be to modernize the dilapidated road system and the outdated railways.
Tusk's party ousted Jaroslaw Kaczynski's nationalist, conservative government in Oct. 21 elections but failed to gain a parliamentary majority on its own. It then forged a coalition with the centrist Polish People's Party.
_____
Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska and Ryan Lucas contributed to this report.
WARSAW, Poland - Poland's new prime minister outlined ambitious plans for the next four years in his inaugural address Friday, saying he plans to withdraw troops from Iraq next year but also push for stronger relations with NATO.
In a three-hour speech to parliament, Donald Tusk laid out a vision for the country that includes more capitalism — privatization, tax cuts and simplifying business laws — to bolster the economy of this ex-communist country.
While Tusk and his Civic Platform party want to continue the strong friendship with the U.S., he gave a taste of plans that, taken together, would suggest that the country plans to assert more independence in its relations with Washington.
Tusk said that, by the end of next year, Poland would withdraw its 900 troops from Iraq, where it leads an international contingent of about 2,000 soldiers from 10 nations in the south-central part of the country.
"We will carry out that operation with the conviction that we have done more than what our allies — especially the U.S. — had expected from us," he said.
Tusk's call for a pullout came as no surprise. He campaigned on promises to end the unpopular mission, clashing on the issue with his opponent, then-incumbent Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who argued that withdrawing would amount to desertion.
His twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, who is the armed forces' commander in chief, supports staying in Iraq longer and has the power to authorize foreign military missions. But he cannot unilaterally extend a mission the government wants to end.
Poland's mission in Iraq has the president's authorization until the end of the year. Tusk and the president will have to hold talks to decide when and how to end the mission.
Tusk said he planned to keep Poland's 1,200-member force in Afghanistan next year.
U.S. State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said Friday that the U.S. had been discussing the issue with the new Polish government and was grateful for Poland's contribution.
"Poland had indicated that it will consult fully with the United States and other allies when conducting their withdrawal to ensure that there is not any reduction in stability in the area they are leaving," Vasquez said.
Tusk also said he will resume talks with the U.S. on accepting a U.S. missile defense base in Poland — but only after consulting with NATO and other neighboring countries — signaling a greater hesitancy over the plan than the previous government.
"NATO is the main pillar and guarantor of Poland's security," Tusk said.
U.S.-Polish talks on the missile shield plan began earlier this year under Kaczynski's government, which strongly supported hosting a site as a way of bolstering the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Russia has sharply opposed U.S. plans to deploy missile defense installations in Poland and the neighboring Czech Republic, saying it would destabilize the balance of power in the region.
Many of Tusk's points were met by applause in the chamber, although the sheer length of his speech — the longest by a prime minister since the fall of Communism — was clearly an annoyance to some.
Some lawmakers could be seen rubbing their eyes or dozing off, while an opposition lawmaker slammed Tusk's long speech as reminiscent of long-winded Communists.
"Donald Tusk is the Fidel Castro of Polish politics," said Zbigniew Girzynski, a lawmaker with Law and Justice.
Tusk, who was sworn in a week ago, spent the largest part of the policy speech on domestic issues. He vowed to lower taxes, reduce the state deficit and put the country on the path to adopt the euro currency "as soon as possible." However, he gave no date.
Tusk pledged to simplify business regulations and speed up privatization. He said less government interference was needed to stimulate private enterprise in Poland, which shed Communism in 1989.
He also said a priority of his government would be to modernize the dilapidated road system and the outdated railways.
Tusk's party ousted Jaroslaw Kaczynski's nationalist, conservative government in Oct. 21 elections but failed to gain a parliamentary majority on its own. It then forged a coalition with the centrist Polish People's Party.
_____
Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska and Ryan Lucas contributed to this report.
Dems Do It Again - This Time On "Missile Defense"
Bruce K. Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Sept. 17, 2007
The people in the Czech Republic (photo from a recent protest in Prague) are overwhelmingly opposed to the coming U.S. deployment of a Star Wars radar in their country. Similarly the people of Poland oppose the U.S. plan to put ten "missile defense" interceptors in their country. Both countries now have right-wing governments who have crawled into the U.S. "orbit" and are ignoring their own people's demands.
On September 13 Central European Social Democrat parties (Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia) met and rejected the U.S. deployment plan saying it threatened to bring about a new arms race.
But of course there was a fly in the ointment. A visiting senior U.S. Democrat said her party was behind the project.
"We wanted to come today to make very clear that we are very supportive.. . of missile defense," Ellen Tauscher, chairwoman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said after meeting Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra in Prague.
She added that she hoped negotiations [that would seal the deployment deal] with the Czechs and the Poles would be concluded soon.
Rep. Tauscher (from Walnut Creek, California) is a tool of the military industrial complex. Just a few months ago she led an effort to reject the recommendations of a House of Representatives sub-committee that had suggested serious cuts in the "Missile Defense Agency" research and development budget for fiscal year 2008.
She, and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), restored $150 million to Pentagon boost-phase missile defense programs, $48 million for future missile defense systems - including space sensors, $12 million more for sea-based sensors, and language to allow $160 million for the highly controversial European missile defense plan.
Her job in attending the meeting of Central European Social Democrats last week was a preemptive strike. The Democrats, who are likely to take the White House back in 2008, are letting the world know that they are committed partners to the Bush program of expanded U.S. global military empire and development of U.S. preemptive first-strike technology. The Democratic Party, under the control of the military industrial complex, are out trying to damper down any opposition to "missile defense". They have essentially become the agents, or sales people, for the weapons industry.
Russia knows that the U.S. is out to militarily surround them with these deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic in addition to the present campaign of NATO expansion into Central and Eastern Europe.
Vladimir Putin's recent comments should be heard by everyone paying attention to this new powder keg issue: "Once the missile defense system is put in place it will work automatically with the entire nuclear capability of the U.S. It will be an integral part of the U.S. nuclear capability.. ..An arms race is unfolding. Was it we who withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty? We already told [Bush] two years ago, don't do this; you don't need to do this. What are you doing? You are destroying the system of international security.... Of course we have to respond to it."
I can tell you what the U.S. is doing. It is creating a new arms race that will benefit the aerospace industry. The goal is to bring on-line new high-tech space weapons technology that will ultimately give the Pentagon the ability to "control and dominate" space and the Earth below. And the Democrats? Their job is to help keep the program funded and alive. They continue to show who their real masters are. They do not work for you and I.
The Democrats are working for the interests of corporate globalization. The New World Order has fully taken control of both political parties in the U.S.
If we want to stop a new and deadly arms race the peace movement in the U.S. must abandon any illusion that the Democrats will save us in 2008.
Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Blog)
http://www.myspace.com/brucekgagnon (MySpace profile)
The people in the Czech Republic (photo from a recent protest in Prague) are overwhelmingly opposed to the coming U.S. deployment of a Star Wars radar in their country. Similarly the people of Poland oppose the U.S. plan to put ten "missile defense" interceptors in their country. Both countries now have right-wing governments who have crawled into the U.S. "orbit" and are ignoring their own people's demands.
On September 13 Central European Social Democrat parties (Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia) met and rejected the U.S. deployment plan saying it threatened to bring about a new arms race.
But of course there was a fly in the ointment. A visiting senior U.S. Democrat said her party was behind the project.
"We wanted to come today to make very clear that we are very supportive.. . of missile defense," Ellen Tauscher, chairwoman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said after meeting Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra in Prague.
She added that she hoped negotiations [that would seal the deployment deal] with the Czechs and the Poles would be concluded soon.
Rep. Tauscher (from Walnut Creek, California) is a tool of the military industrial complex. Just a few months ago she led an effort to reject the recommendations of a House of Representatives sub-committee that had suggested serious cuts in the "Missile Defense Agency" research and development budget for fiscal year 2008.
She, and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), restored $150 million to Pentagon boost-phase missile defense programs, $48 million for future missile defense systems - including space sensors, $12 million more for sea-based sensors, and language to allow $160 million for the highly controversial European missile defense plan.
Her job in attending the meeting of Central European Social Democrats last week was a preemptive strike. The Democrats, who are likely to take the White House back in 2008, are letting the world know that they are committed partners to the Bush program of expanded U.S. global military empire and development of U.S. preemptive first-strike technology. The Democratic Party, under the control of the military industrial complex, are out trying to damper down any opposition to "missile defense". They have essentially become the agents, or sales people, for the weapons industry.
Russia knows that the U.S. is out to militarily surround them with these deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic in addition to the present campaign of NATO expansion into Central and Eastern Europe.
Vladimir Putin's recent comments should be heard by everyone paying attention to this new powder keg issue: "Once the missile defense system is put in place it will work automatically with the entire nuclear capability of the U.S. It will be an integral part of the U.S. nuclear capability.. ..An arms race is unfolding. Was it we who withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty? We already told [Bush] two years ago, don't do this; you don't need to do this. What are you doing? You are destroying the system of international security.... Of course we have to respond to it."
I can tell you what the U.S. is doing. It is creating a new arms race that will benefit the aerospace industry. The goal is to bring on-line new high-tech space weapons technology that will ultimately give the Pentagon the ability to "control and dominate" space and the Earth below. And the Democrats? Their job is to help keep the program funded and alive. They continue to show who their real masters are. They do not work for you and I.
The Democrats are working for the interests of corporate globalization. The New World Order has fully taken control of both political parties in the U.S.
If we want to stop a new and deadly arms race the peace movement in the U.S. must abandon any illusion that the Democrats will save us in 2008.
Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Blog)
http://www.myspace.com/brucekgagnon (MySpace profile)
Central Europe Socialists reject U.S. missile shield
By Jan Korselt, Reuters, Sept. 14, 2007
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Central European Social Democrat parties rejected on Thursday a U.S. plan to build part of its missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying it threatened to bring about a new arms race.
Top Socialists from Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia said after talks in Prague that any such system must not be built unilaterally or bilaterally.
"We are concerned about the decision to deploy the system and are at one with the large majority of our populations in rejecting it," the parties said in a joint statement, which was signed among others by Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, Germany's SPD chief Kurt Beck, and Polish Socialist leader Wojciech Olejniczak.
They called on the European Union, the NATO alliance and the NATO-Russia council to consult on missile defense.
Beck said the statement was also a message to conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with whom the Socialists jointly rule.
"We agreed we are against any new arms build-up in Europe," Beck said.
Some critics of the anti-missile system have warned the plan could be torpedoed if a Democrat president is elected next year after Republican George W. Bush, but a visiting senior Democrat said her party was behind the project.
"We wanted to come today to make very clear that we are very supportive... of missile defense," Ellen Tauscher, chairwoman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said after meeting Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra in Prague.
She added that she hoped negotiations with the Czechs and the Poles would be concluded soon.
The ruling Hungarian Socialists attended the central European socialists' meeting but refused to join in.
"The Hungarian Socialist Party believes that if Europe is exposed to a terrorist threat we have to defend ourselves," said Imre Szekeres, deputy party chief and the country's defense minister.
The United States is building the shield to guard against missiles that it says could be fired by countries such as North Korea and Iran, carrying chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
It is in talks with the rightist governments in Poland -- where it wants to put 10 ground-based interceptor missiles -- and in the Czech Republic, which is meant to host a radar base.
Russia opposes the plan, saying it would upset a delicate strategic balance between major powers and threaten its own security.
The plan has also hit obstacles in the United States.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee cut $85 million from a $310.4 million funding request for the fiscal year starting October 1, joining the other three congressional committees with jurisdiction over the issue to recommend cutting the plan for European sites next year.
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Central European Social Democrat parties rejected on Thursday a U.S. plan to build part of its missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying it threatened to bring about a new arms race.
Top Socialists from Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia said after talks in Prague that any such system must not be built unilaterally or bilaterally.
"We are concerned about the decision to deploy the system and are at one with the large majority of our populations in rejecting it," the parties said in a joint statement, which was signed among others by Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, Germany's SPD chief Kurt Beck, and Polish Socialist leader Wojciech Olejniczak.
They called on the European Union, the NATO alliance and the NATO-Russia council to consult on missile defense.
Beck said the statement was also a message to conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with whom the Socialists jointly rule.
"We agreed we are against any new arms build-up in Europe," Beck said.
Some critics of the anti-missile system have warned the plan could be torpedoed if a Democrat president is elected next year after Republican George W. Bush, but a visiting senior Democrat said her party was behind the project.
"We wanted to come today to make very clear that we are very supportive... of missile defense," Ellen Tauscher, chairwoman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said after meeting Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra in Prague.
She added that she hoped negotiations with the Czechs and the Poles would be concluded soon.
The ruling Hungarian Socialists attended the central European socialists' meeting but refused to join in.
"The Hungarian Socialist Party believes that if Europe is exposed to a terrorist threat we have to defend ourselves," said Imre Szekeres, deputy party chief and the country's defense minister.
The United States is building the shield to guard against missiles that it says could be fired by countries such as North Korea and Iran, carrying chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
It is in talks with the rightist governments in Poland -- where it wants to put 10 ground-based interceptor missiles -- and in the Czech Republic, which is meant to host a radar base.
Russia opposes the plan, saying it would upset a delicate strategic balance between major powers and threaten its own security.
The plan has also hit obstacles in the United States.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee cut $85 million from a $310.4 million funding request for the fiscal year starting October 1, joining the other three congressional committees with jurisdiction over the issue to recommend cutting the plan for European sites next year.
Missile Defense Strains Russia-U.S. Ties
Two Rounds Of Talks Fail To Narrow Differences Between Nations
CBS News, WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2007
(AP) Two rounds of talks on a Russian proposal for missile defense cooperation with the U.S. have failed to narrow differences that have strained relations, officials from both countries say.
The U.S. hopes technical experts who plan to visit a Russian-operated radar in Azerbaijan on Tuesday can help jump-start the talks with new ideas for cooperation.
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has suggested the countries could share the mammoth installation and a second radar under construction in southern Russia as part of U.S. efforts to defend against the potential threat from Iranian missiles.
Putin surprised the U.S. with the proposal in June. It followed months of criticism of U.S. negotiations to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, both former Soviet satellites.
The disagreement over missile defense has become a high-priority issue raised repeatedly in direct talks between Putin and President Bush.
The United States says the European system is intended to counter Iranian missiles that could be aimed at Europe or U.S. territory. Russia contends the system also could be used against Russian missiles and threatens its nuclear deterrence.
To explore ways of resolving the differences, Bush and Putin agreed to a series of talks led by Assistant Secretary of State John Rood and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak. The two sides met in Washington in July and again in Paris last week.
The talks have made little progress.
The U.S. says it hopes Russia will contribute to U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Europe that would include the Czech and Polish bases. Russia says it will not help the U.S. counter an Iranian threat unless the European plans are canceled.
Following the Paris talks, Rood said the U.S. had offered proposals on how the two sides could work together. Those ideas, however, did not deal with the disagreement over the terms of cooperation, said a U.S. official who works on missile defense issues and spoke on condition of anonymity.
"I think we are both in the same place as we were before," said the official, who was not authorized to speak for attribution.
A Russian official, who also requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, agreed that the two sides were far apart.
"Nothing has changed in the U.S. position during the talks," said the official. "There is still a completely different understanding of the substance of President Putin's proposal."
The U.S. hopes Tuesday's meeting at the Azerbaijan radar site will spark ideas for a third round of talks to be held in Moscow next month.
The Bush administration is interested in the radars that Putin has offered, but as an additional asset for the system planned for Central Europe, not as a substitute. The radar in Gabala, Azerbaijan, is of a type that could not perform the same function as the one planned for the Czech Republic.
The U.S.-built radar would track a missile after it had been detected by other means. The missile defense system also would need other radars to detect missile launches. While the U.S. has some of those capabilities, the Gabala facility's proximity to Iran could help the system identify missile trajectories earlier.
"What the Gabala radar would help you do is acquire targets," said Theodore Postol, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Putin has proposed a different idea: using the radars as a way of monitoring the development of Iran's missile program. While the U.S. estimates Iran could become capable of launching an intercontinental missile by about 2015, Russia believes Iran is decades away.
According to Glen Howard, president of the Jamestown Foundation, a national security policy institute in Washington, the Gabala facility has eavesdropping capabilities beyond its massive radar.
"The radar is Russia's eyes and ears in the Middle East," he said.
But the U.S. says it will not consider delaying its European plans while the two sides monitor what the administration consider a clear threat from Iran.
"The United States is saying `Sure, we will talk to you, but we are going to continue building while we talk,"' said retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, a military fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "That is not a position that will lead to much progress."
CBS News, WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2007
(AP) Two rounds of talks on a Russian proposal for missile defense cooperation with the U.S. have failed to narrow differences that have strained relations, officials from both countries say.
The U.S. hopes technical experts who plan to visit a Russian-operated radar in Azerbaijan on Tuesday can help jump-start the talks with new ideas for cooperation.
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has suggested the countries could share the mammoth installation and a second radar under construction in southern Russia as part of U.S. efforts to defend against the potential threat from Iranian missiles.
Putin surprised the U.S. with the proposal in June. It followed months of criticism of U.S. negotiations to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, both former Soviet satellites.
The disagreement over missile defense has become a high-priority issue raised repeatedly in direct talks between Putin and President Bush.
The United States says the European system is intended to counter Iranian missiles that could be aimed at Europe or U.S. territory. Russia contends the system also could be used against Russian missiles and threatens its nuclear deterrence.
To explore ways of resolving the differences, Bush and Putin agreed to a series of talks led by Assistant Secretary of State John Rood and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak. The two sides met in Washington in July and again in Paris last week.
The talks have made little progress.
The U.S. says it hopes Russia will contribute to U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Europe that would include the Czech and Polish bases. Russia says it will not help the U.S. counter an Iranian threat unless the European plans are canceled.
Following the Paris talks, Rood said the U.S. had offered proposals on how the two sides could work together. Those ideas, however, did not deal with the disagreement over the terms of cooperation, said a U.S. official who works on missile defense issues and spoke on condition of anonymity.
"I think we are both in the same place as we were before," said the official, who was not authorized to speak for attribution.
A Russian official, who also requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, agreed that the two sides were far apart.
"Nothing has changed in the U.S. position during the talks," said the official. "There is still a completely different understanding of the substance of President Putin's proposal."
The U.S. hopes Tuesday's meeting at the Azerbaijan radar site will spark ideas for a third round of talks to be held in Moscow next month.
The Bush administration is interested in the radars that Putin has offered, but as an additional asset for the system planned for Central Europe, not as a substitute. The radar in Gabala, Azerbaijan, is of a type that could not perform the same function as the one planned for the Czech Republic.
The U.S.-built radar would track a missile after it had been detected by other means. The missile defense system also would need other radars to detect missile launches. While the U.S. has some of those capabilities, the Gabala facility's proximity to Iran could help the system identify missile trajectories earlier.
"What the Gabala radar would help you do is acquire targets," said Theodore Postol, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Putin has proposed a different idea: using the radars as a way of monitoring the development of Iran's missile program. While the U.S. estimates Iran could become capable of launching an intercontinental missile by about 2015, Russia believes Iran is decades away.
According to Glen Howard, president of the Jamestown Foundation, a national security policy institute in Washington, the Gabala facility has eavesdropping capabilities beyond its massive radar.
"The radar is Russia's eyes and ears in the Middle East," he said.
But the U.S. says it will not consider delaying its European plans while the two sides monitor what the administration consider a clear threat from Iran.
"The United States is saying `Sure, we will talk to you, but we are going to continue building while we talk,"' said retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, a military fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "That is not a position that will lead to much progress."
More countries join US-led nuclear energy programme
by Michael Adler, AFP, Sept. 16, 2007
VIENNA (AFP) - Eleven countries joined Sunday a US-led initiative to spread atomic power but not technology which can be used to make nuclear weapons.
Australia, Bulgaria, Ghana, Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine signed in Vienna a statement of principles for the programme, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP).
It called for the "the expansion of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes worldwide in a safe and secure manner."
GNEP seeks to help states get nuclear fuel, such as uranium, so they do not produce it themselves.
It also aims to promote the use of nuclear reactors that do not present proliferation risks, such as producing plutonium, and to recycle spent nuclear fuel so that plutonium can not be separated out.
Enriched uranium and plutonium can be fuel for reactors but also can be used to make nuclear weapons.
The GNEP started as a US initiative in February 2006 and had its first meeting in May this year in Washington when the United States hosted fellow members China, France, Japan and Russia.
Nuclear power is seen by many as crucial in a world where energy demand is booming since it makes electricity without adding to the greenhouse gases which cause global warming.
The United States is seeking to promote nuclear power while guarding against the danger of the spread of nuclear weapons which arises when states like Iran develop strategic technologies such as uranium enrichment, which makes nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material.
The United States wants GNEP to organize countries that have secure, advanced nuclear capabilities to provide fuel to other nations which agree to use nuclear energy just for power generation.
Their compliance would be monitored by the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Sunday that GNEP had no specific projects yet.
"Our task today is to formally commit to the principles espoused by GNEP and to begin discussions with like-minded countries that seek to develop civilian nuclear power in a safe and secure manner and who, not coincidentally, have been reaching out to us," Bodman said in a speech at the GNEP meeting, which also included 22 candidate partner and observer countries.
Bodman later told reporters that GNEP is "not committed to any (one particular technology)" but is "looking at everything that is available."
"What we are attempting to do is to start looking long-term . . . how we should go about developing nuclear power on a safe and affordable basis" while protecting "against proliferation," Bodman said.
"We have a lot to do here just to get ourselves organized," he added.
Asked if the GNEP initiative was coming too late, with Iran for instance already enriching uranium, Bodman said: "It may have been better to do this 10 years ago and not now."
But "we're trying to do the best we can given the set of circumstances that confront us," Bodman said.
Joining GNEP does not entail obligations, such as giving up the right to enrich uranium, the US energy secretary said.
Dennis Spurgeon, assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said "the idea behind GNEP is countries voluntarily coming together for a common good."
GNEP is "not supplanting the IAEA in terms of safeguards. We'll need them more than ever," Spurgeon said.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the GNEP meeting that the program is "a major initiative that is badly needed and is very timely."
"We need energy because again without development there is misery, there is conflict, there is war," ElBaradei said.
Some of the new countries, like Lithuania and Poland, a strong coal user, do not yet have nuclear power but want to develop it.
Polish Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak said his nation wanted to "change our energy mix."
VIENNA (AFP) - Eleven countries joined Sunday a US-led initiative to spread atomic power but not technology which can be used to make nuclear weapons.
Australia, Bulgaria, Ghana, Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine signed in Vienna a statement of principles for the programme, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP).
It called for the "the expansion of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes worldwide in a safe and secure manner."
GNEP seeks to help states get nuclear fuel, such as uranium, so they do not produce it themselves.
It also aims to promote the use of nuclear reactors that do not present proliferation risks, such as producing plutonium, and to recycle spent nuclear fuel so that plutonium can not be separated out.
Enriched uranium and plutonium can be fuel for reactors but also can be used to make nuclear weapons.
The GNEP started as a US initiative in February 2006 and had its first meeting in May this year in Washington when the United States hosted fellow members China, France, Japan and Russia.
Nuclear power is seen by many as crucial in a world where energy demand is booming since it makes electricity without adding to the greenhouse gases which cause global warming.
The United States is seeking to promote nuclear power while guarding against the danger of the spread of nuclear weapons which arises when states like Iran develop strategic technologies such as uranium enrichment, which makes nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material.
The United States wants GNEP to organize countries that have secure, advanced nuclear capabilities to provide fuel to other nations which agree to use nuclear energy just for power generation.
Their compliance would be monitored by the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Sunday that GNEP had no specific projects yet.
"Our task today is to formally commit to the principles espoused by GNEP and to begin discussions with like-minded countries that seek to develop civilian nuclear power in a safe and secure manner and who, not coincidentally, have been reaching out to us," Bodman said in a speech at the GNEP meeting, which also included 22 candidate partner and observer countries.
Bodman later told reporters that GNEP is "not committed to any (one particular technology)" but is "looking at everything that is available."
"What we are attempting to do is to start looking long-term . . . how we should go about developing nuclear power on a safe and affordable basis" while protecting "against proliferation," Bodman said.
"We have a lot to do here just to get ourselves organized," he added.
Asked if the GNEP initiative was coming too late, with Iran for instance already enriching uranium, Bodman said: "It may have been better to do this 10 years ago and not now."
But "we're trying to do the best we can given the set of circumstances that confront us," Bodman said.
Joining GNEP does not entail obligations, such as giving up the right to enrich uranium, the US energy secretary said.
Dennis Spurgeon, assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said "the idea behind GNEP is countries voluntarily coming together for a common good."
GNEP is "not supplanting the IAEA in terms of safeguards. We'll need them more than ever," Spurgeon said.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the GNEP meeting that the program is "a major initiative that is badly needed and is very timely."
"We need energy because again without development there is misery, there is conflict, there is war," ElBaradei said.
Some of the new countries, like Lithuania and Poland, a strong coal user, do not yet have nuclear power but want to develop it.
Polish Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak said his nation wanted to "change our energy mix."
NATO backs U.S. missile plan on eve of Russia talks
Reuters, June 25, 2007
MOSCOW (Reuters) - NATO's secretary-general mounted a stout defense of Washington's missile shield plan on Monday, the day before meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin when the issue is likely to top the agenda.
Russia has described United States' plan to place part of its missile shield in eastern Europe as a threat and the issue has divided European politicians with some saying it is vital for defense and others saying it is misguided.
"You don't have to be Einstein to understand that 10 interceptor rockets don't pose any threat to Russia and the Russian people," NATO's Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said via an interpreter in a debate on Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station.
On Tuesday de Hoop Scheffer meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin.
He underlined the shield was aimed at shooting down missiles fired by rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, and that Russia also shared these common enemies.
In echoes of the Cold War, Putin this month said he would order Russia to aim its missiles back at major European cities if Washington went ahead with the plan to site elements of the shield near Russia's borders.
"We were enemies and we tried to destroy each other but that era has now finished," de Hoop Scheffer said on Monday.
The United States wants to place part of the missile shield in Poland and the Czech republic.
As an alternative to the shield, Russia has also offered the United States use of a Soviet-built radar station in Azerbaijan. The United States said it would consider the offer although the Azeri radar station could not replace the main missile shield.
**********************
Tell Bush & Congress: No U.S. Military Bases in The Czech Republic & Poland!
MOSCOW (Reuters) - NATO's secretary-general mounted a stout defense of Washington's missile shield plan on Monday, the day before meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin when the issue is likely to top the agenda.
Russia has described United States' plan to place part of its missile shield in eastern Europe as a threat and the issue has divided European politicians with some saying it is vital for defense and others saying it is misguided.
"You don't have to be Einstein to understand that 10 interceptor rockets don't pose any threat to Russia and the Russian people," NATO's Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said via an interpreter in a debate on Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station.
On Tuesday de Hoop Scheffer meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin.
He underlined the shield was aimed at shooting down missiles fired by rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, and that Russia also shared these common enemies.
In echoes of the Cold War, Putin this month said he would order Russia to aim its missiles back at major European cities if Washington went ahead with the plan to site elements of the shield near Russia's borders.
"We were enemies and we tried to destroy each other but that era has now finished," de Hoop Scheffer said on Monday.
The United States wants to place part of the missile shield in Poland and the Czech republic.
As an alternative to the shield, Russia has also offered the United States use of a Soviet-built radar station in Azerbaijan. The United States said it would consider the offer although the Azeri radar station could not replace the main missile shield.
**********************
Tell Bush & Congress: No U.S. Military Bases in The Czech Republic & Poland!
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