U.S. and Poland sign missile shield deal

Today’s agreement would put ten U.S. missile interceptors in Poland. It would be part of a shield that compliments elements in the Czech Republic. Secretary of State Rice said the missile defense system will help combat threats of 21st century warfare. The Polish President called the agreement a great success for Poland. As was expected, today’s news was not well received in Moscow. Last week, a Russian official warned that Poland would be leaving itself open to retaliation if it signed an agreement with the U.S. and possibly even a nuclear attack. Today Gorbachev wrote a blistering op-ed piece in the New York Times, accusing of the U.S. of painting the Russia as a bully while the U.S. does whatever it pleases in countries that neighbor Russia. Russia has proposed a joint missile defense system which would be partially stationed in its territory. This former U.S. Ambassador says that would’ve been a better system politically and technically, and that instead Washington and Poland would be painting this agreement as an offensive strategy, which is what the U.S. and Poland are trying to refute. But there’s one overriding factor in all of this: it hasn’t been proven if a missile defense system would work.