Missile defense shield: a test for democracy

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MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) - On his way to the G8 summit, during a stopover in the Czech Republic to wrap up negotiations on an American anti-missile radar there, U.S. President George W. Bush thanked the Czech authorities for their loyalty to democracy.

The most surprising thing was that Bush seemed to be quite sincere, and the Czech authorities appeared to really believe they were democrats through and through. Meanwhile, though, there is some cause for doubt - the decision on deployment was made in the teeth of overwhelming opposition from the Czech people.

In other words, democracy in the Czech Republic has failed to pass the test given to it by the American missile shield. Another reason why this is bad for the Czechs is that, having only recently gotten out from under the thumb of the Soviet Union and without having fully tasted independence, they have found themselves under heavy American pressure.

The United States' choice of new EU entrants as the location for elements of its missile defense shield was not accidental. It was not so much their closeness to Russian territory as their underdog mentality, regardless of who instilled it in them, the Soviet Union or the United States.

History repeated itself in Poland, where most of the population is likewise against deploying the anti-missile system. The only difference was that while Prague did not put up enough resistance, Warsaw readily obliged, and Bush did not even need to go there - the Kaczynski twins, who serve as the country's president and prime minister, anticipated his move. They do not care if the matter concerns Iraq or missiles.

Incidentally, in Poland's case, not only European democracy failed the test, but, if we are to believe the Polish president, European solidarity failed it, too. Lech Kaczynski said: "If we were to canvas all NATO members, some of which fully agree with Moscow, the missile defense system would perhaps never be built."

I wonder whom the Polish president considers Moscow's fifth column in the North Atlantic alliance? And there is also another question: why has the United States preferred to decide this strategically important military-political matter not through NATO but with countries that will never say no to Washington? Has America lost its confidence in NATO, or NATO has lost its confidence in the United States?

Also in Prague, President Bush expressed concern about Russian democracy. Whether or not he is right is the subject of a separate article, but let us assume that Washington has reason to be worried. Then the natural question arises: will elements of an American missile shield in Europe strengthen or weaken Russia's volatile democracy?

It is a purely rhetorical question. The mere existence of plans to site a U.S. missile defense system close to Russia's borders has ruffled a lot of feathers in Moscow, boosted the defense sector - including the military and security-related agencies - and revived a sense of insecurity among many Russians, if not of life in a besieged camp. Clearly, this works against Russian democracy. Missile defense in Europe and stronger democracy in Russia do not go together, and they never will.

Lastly, there is strong opposition in the United States itself to building a missile shield in Europe, specifically, within the Democratic Party, which has already used its majority in Congress to soft-pedal Bush's plans. The fact that the president, both here and in the case of Iraq, simply ignored the opposition, which defeated him in the last elections, indicates that in the United States, too, democracy is failing the missile test and losing out to military and civilian hawks.

It looks like people power is in trouble all across the board - in the United States, Europe and Russia.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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