Missile Shield? What Missile Shield?

While a few months ago the debate over the planned U.S. missile shield in Poland was big news, it seems that with the change in government, the former hot topic is being pushed to the sidelines for as long as possible. The main reason? Politics; and not just Polish politics are behind the decision to not decide. With election frenzy taking off in the U.S., Polish politicians believe that a change in the American government come November would at least change the variants of the project, if not can it completely.

Since Donald Tusk took over as prime minister, talks with Washington over the missile shield plan in Poland and the Czech Republic have basically stalled. Poland's minister of foreign affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski, has told Gazeta Wyborcza that the Polish government is studying the platforms of the leading candidates for the American presidency, to see which ones are likely to continue the missile shield plans, and which ones are likely to ditch them.

But improving Russian-Polish relations could be another reason for the Tusk coalition government to be backing down from its predecessors' gung-ho pro-American stance. Moscow feels threatened by the shield, and itself has threatened to punish the two countries if the shield were to be built. The majority of Polish citizens themselves are no fans of the project either, so a move away from supporting the shield could prove worthwhile for the new government.