Polish president accuses Obama of betraying Poland
Reflecting Warsaw's long-standing anger over the 2009 cancellation of a controversial Bush-era anti-ballistic missile system President Bronislaw Komorowski said Poland should build its own missile shield to ensure national defence.
"Our mistake was that by accepting the American offer of a shield we failed to take into account the political risk associated with a change of president," said Mr Komorowski in a magazine interview. "We paid a high political price. We do not want to make the same mistake again. We must have a missile system as an element of our defences."
Last week, Mitt Romney used a visit to Warsaw to condemn Russia as a "country where the desire to be free is met with brutal oppression" in a bid to establish hawkish credentials ahead of the US elections.
The Republican candidate has accused President Obama of "abandoning Poland" by cancelling the missile defence plan in order to aid his much-criticised attempt to "reset" relations with Moscow.
Mr Obama's decision to scrap George W Bush's original missile shield dismayed the Polish government, especially as many Poles saw it as an attempt to appease Russia, Poland's historical and Cold War foe.
Posted by: tipper 2012-08-06 |