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21 Oct, 2009 22:34

“Joe Biden’s visit to Poland – reconciliation gesture”

What Poland really wants from the US is not its missiles, but rather a more secure alliance with a guarantee that it will be defended in case of a possible attack, said Ivan Eland of the Independent Institute.

He went on to add that Joe Biden’s visit to Poland, and the US proposal on a new missile defense plan, is just a way to reconcile with the Poles after scrapping the old AMD plan.

”I don’t think that they [US] need Poles for the new missile defense because the primary missiles are standard missiles which are normally put on ships in the North Sea and the Mediterranean,” Eland said.

He went on to add that the flood of US officials that Poland and Czech Republic is currently seeing is the way for America to say that they are still committed to their allies.

On Wednesday, US Vice President Joe Biden secured Poland's approval for a new US anti-missile system on the first leg of his east European tour.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomed Washington's proposals as a step away from previous plans.

"I want to stress that Poland views the new configuration for the missile shield as very interesting, necessary, and we are ready at the appropriate scale to participate," Tusk said at a news conference with Biden.

Under the new plan, the US would place SM-3 anti-ballistic missiles at a former air base in the town of Redzikowo in northern Poland.

The Bush-era AMD plans would have put 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic, all to counter missiles launched from so-called "rogue states"

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