He said he strove for a personal meeting with Rice, who signed a treaty on the radar on Czech soil with her Czech Czech Social Democrat MPs trust leaders after Wolf's departure ...
Czech Chamber passes animal protection bill ...
NATO Secretary General pushes for Ukraine membership ... counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg in Prague today, but failed. Vlcek did not attend the treaty signature today to express his disagreement with the radar base, according to CTK's information. CSSD chairman Jiri Paroubek was not present at the signature either because he is on a visit to Israel, and neither the CSSD's Chamber of Deputies deputy chairman Lubomir Zaoralek nor CSSD deputies group chairman Michal Hasek were present. The stand of the Chamber of Deputies on the U.S.
radar base that is to be part of the U.S. anti-missile shield is very uncertain. The opposition that has almost a half of the 200 deputy mandates is opposed to the radar. It is speculated, however, that some former CSSD deputies might help the government push through the radar, but on the other hand, some government coalition deputies have a negative stand on the radar. The CSSD and Communists (KSCM) hope they will succeed together with the coalition critics in preventing the approval of the treaties. Vlcek used in his letter similar arguments against the building of the Central European elements of the U.S. shield like other critics of the project that is also to include a base for ten interceptor missiles in Poland. He wrote there is no evidence of a real threat of a missile attack, not even in the foreseeable future. "There are doubts about whether this system can contribute to the defence of Europe and the world, or whether it will increase tension and destabilisation, and the emergence of new dividing lines in Europe and in the world," Vlcek wrote. He wrote that the Czech Republic is a reliable member of NATO and that it would welcome participation in an all-European anti-missile defence system. "That is why we are waiting for the results of the NATO summit in 2009 that could deal with the issue. That is why there is no reason to rush into the ratification of the treaty. It should only start after the arrival of a new U.S. Administration," Vlcek wrote.
(Ceske Noviny)
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