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27 October 2007 |
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http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=155831 |
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See also: other related news items.  WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States and Russia hit an impasse on
missile defense in Europe Thursday with the U.S. defense secretary
saying Washington has gone as far as it can to placate Moscow.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' comments came after Moscow rejected U.S. concessions on its plans for missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. "I guess my view is I think we've leaned about as far forward as we can. We've offered a lot. And my view is, now I want to see some movement on their part," Gates told reporters as he flew back from Europe. He said the U.S. proposals "represent a very forward-leaning posture in terms of partnering with the Russians." "And I think the question is whether the Russians are serious about partnering with us, or whether this is merely a pose to try and stop us from going forward with the Czech Republic and Poland," he said. Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Viktor Serdyukov said the U.S. proposals were not enough to satisfy Russian concerns. "All that has been proposed to us does not satisfy us, our position remains the same," the ITAR-TASS and Interfax news agency quoted Serdyukov as saying at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in the Netherlands. "The need for missile defense in Europe is real, and I believe it is urgent," President George W. Bush said, in a speech at the National Defense University that was interpreted as being at odds with Gates' more conciliatory approach. During a visit to Moscow earlier this month, Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented the Russians with ideas for a regional missile defense scheme that would include Russia as well as NATO. They proposed posting Russian liaison officers at U.S. missile defense sites as well as at the radar site in the Czech Republic if Prague agreed. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week said he detected "a certain transformation" in the U.S. view that allowed for continued dialogue, AP reported. French Defense Minister Herve Morin also urged the Netherlands and other nations fighting the Taliban to maintain their troop levels in front-line areas of Afghanistan. But he made clear during talks with other NATO defense ministers that his nation would not be sending combat troops to assist allies in Afghanistan's dangerous south. The Netherlands warned during the meeting's first day Wednesday that public pressure could force it to pull its 1,600 troops out of the frontline province of Uruzgan next year if they do not get more support from other allies. That prospect has raised fears that one nation after another could pull its forces back. "The signal that a country gives by reducing its forces could be an extremely negative sign for the totality of the countries engaged in Afghanistan," Morin said. "I would say there is an extremely great risk of a domino effect." Morin said France would send a training unit to prepare Afghan army forces to help the Dutch and would continue to provide air support to NATO nations with troops in the south. But he said France would not be sending combat troops to the southern region. "For us it's instructors," he said. Before the talks with Serdyukov, NATO ministers agreed on the need to scale down a new elite force because the deployment of thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa has left the 26 nations with too few combat forces to maintain the 25,000-strong unit meant as the spearhead of the allies' military modernization drive. NATO spokesman James Appathurai declined to say how small the new "core" force would be. |
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