Barack Obama to abandon European missile-defence shield, say reports

[maddezmom]

Source: The Guardian

Barack Obama has abandoned the US's controversial plan to build a missile-defence system in Europe in one of the sharpest breaks yet with the policies of the Bush administration, according to reports from Washington today

In a move that, if confirmed, is likely to delight the Kremlin but unnerve Washington's eastern European allies, The Wall Street Journal said that the White House would not proceed with plans to site missile interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. Russia had furiously opposed the project – claiming it targeted Moscow's nuclear arsenal.

During a visit to Moscow in July, Obama announced a 60-day review of the Pentagon's contentious missile defence plan. According to the Wall Street Journal, the findings, to be released next week, will conclude that Iran's long-range missile programme is progressing more slowly than previously thought.

The Bush administration had argued that the system was needed to defend the US and its allies from an Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile. Citing US officials, the paper said the White House now believed Iran's short and medium range missile programme posed a more potent and immediate danger.

Russia's leadership is likely to see Obama's apparent climbdown as a victory for its uncompromising stance on the shield.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/17/missile-defence-shield-barack-obama