Czechs rally against missile shield

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-02-19/Czechs_rally_against_missile_shield.html

19 February, 2009, 03:33
Protestors in white robes carrying rainbow flags, including more than one hundred Czech mayors, showed up at the European Parliament headquarters in Brussels to campaign against the US planned missile shield.

Campaigners hope this is the turning point in their lengthy fight against the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defence system. The European Parliament is holding a public hearing to discuss the proposed shield.

They number over a hundred, but speak for the 70 per cent of Czechs who are against a radar base the US has proposed to be built to the south of Prague, in Byrdy.

The vast majority of Czechs fear the missile defence system and their country’s involvement with it actually endangers them, and the rest of Europe.

"This is a European issue and will influence the security in the entire continent and will have consequences for all of us living in Europe and beyond and as such should be discussed in the European Parliament," said Jan Tamas, spokesman for the Czech Humanist Movement.

It would work in conjunction with a radar base at Fylingdales in the North of England, and with a missile launch site also mooted for Poland. This would form a US missile defence system in Europe which the White House says would protect itself and its allies against attacks from rogue states, like Iran.

Russia opposes the plans, saying it would be ineffectual as a defence, and threatens their national security. The rhetoric between Moscow and Washington intensified last year – The Kremlin, having already suggested alternative sites closer to Iran’s border, said it would place missiles on its western-most border of Kaliningrad as a countermeasure to the US’s bases.