President Obama has announced that he will scrap former President Bush’s planned missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic and instead deploy a reconfigured system aimed more at intercepting shorter-range Iranian missiles. The decision amounts to one of the biggest national security reversals by the new administration, one that has upset the Czech and Polish allies and pleased Russia.
Obama Administration officials stressed that they are not abandoning missile defence, only redesigning it to meet the more immediate Iranian threat. Obama who called the leaders of both Poland and the Czech Republic before making his announcement, reiterated America’s commitment under Article V of the NATO Charter that states that an attack on one member is an attack on the entire alliance.
The decision has been hailed by Russian Prime Minister Putin as “correct and brave”. Russia has now shelved a plan to place Iskander missiles in its Kalningrad enclave after America dropped its scheme for a missile shield in eastern Europe. He called on President Obama to make more gestures such as removal of all remaining trade restrictions and full US backing for a joint bid by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to join the WTO. Moscow had repeatedly threatened to deploy missiles in a Russian enclave next to Poland if the US refused to drop the plan. Putin had led Moscow’s verbal assault on Bush’s missile plans which Russian Generals said could have been used to neutralize Russia’s vast nuclear deterrent. They brushed aside US assurances that the scheme was not targeted at Russia. The missile plans were held up by the Kremlin as a major issue that had soured relations with the White House and hindered cooperation between the two Cold War foes.
Analysts said Obama’s shift on the shield was a bet aimed at boosting cooperation with Moscow on Iran after reaching understanding with the Kremlin on nuclear arms cuts and support for US-led forces fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
To mark 9/11, Osama fires salvo at Obama: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has described President Barack Obama as “powerless” to stop the war in Afghanistan and American inability to grasp why the 9/11 attacks occurred has “cost you a lot without any result whatsoever”. The remarks by Osama were released two days after the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that he ordered. In an 11-minute video released by the As-Sahab, media production branch of Al-Qaeda, featuring a still image of Bin Laden and a studio statement, he said, the present Obama Administration was following its predecessor, President Bush, to promote his policies of fear.
Japan’s new PM takes charge: Long-time opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama has taken charge as Prime Minister of Japan. He assumed office on Sept. 16 naming a new Cabinet and vowing to rebuild the economy and refocus “Japan’s place on the world stage” with his largely untested left-of-centre party.
Hatoyama’s victory over the conservatives, who have governed Japan almost non-stop since World War II, marks a major turning point for Japan, which is facing its worst post-war slowdown with unemployment at record highs and deflation intensifying. But concerns run deep over whether the new government will be able to deliver. Hatoyama has promised to cut government waste, rein in the national bureaucracy and restart the economy by putting a freeze on planned tax hikes, removing tolls on highways and focusing policies on consumers, not big business.
