Barack Obama's missile defence pledge fails to stir Czech audience

Barack Obama's missile defence pledge fails to stir Czech audience
Barack Obama's praise for the Czech government's "courage" in hosting a planned United States missile defence fell flat with many of his supporters during a speech to an audience of 20,000 on Sunday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5110965/Barack-Obamas-missile-defence-pledge-fails-to-stir-Czech-audience.html

By Bruno Waterfield in Prague
Last Updated: 7:52PM BST 05 Apr 2009

President Obama linked America's missile defence project to his wider vision of a world free of atomic weapons while setting out his new US policy on nuclear non-proliferation.

"Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the US, but to Iran's neighbours and our allies. The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defence against these missiles," he said.


"As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defence system."

The comments met with the enthusiastic approval of centre right government ministers and supporters at the front of the audience but were greeted with an unusually stony silence throughout most of the crowd.

Commitments by the Polish and Czech governments to host antimissiles or radar stations have divided Europe and proved deeply unpopular with voters.

In the Czech Republic, polling has shown 70 per cent of people to be opposed to the presence of US missile defence radar bases in their country.

Local referendums in communities where radar sites are planned have shown that 95 per cent of Czechs are opposed.

Widespread opposition to the system is also regarded as an important factor in the collapse of the Czech government two weeks ago.

Jiri Parubek, a former Czech prime minister and leader of the opposition Social Democrats, signed a letter, along with 22 MPs, urging Mr Obama to "stop" the rader sites.

"We call on you to respect the will of a majority of the Czech Republic and to renounce installation of the radar," said the letter.

Petr Sramek, aged 33, had brought his six month old son Daniel to see America's "brilliant" new president speak in the spring Prague sunshine.

But he was "disappointed" that Mr Obama had not used the opportunity to drop an unpopular policy.

"I really liked the clear message on nuclear disarmament but I am against the missile defence system. It is not about non-proliferation, it is more about geopolitical influence then defence against missiles," he said.

Alena Protivinska, a 30 year old website designer, described herself as a "big fan" of Mr Obama but accused him of "hypocrisy" for urging world peace while at the same time promoting a military security agenda.

"He sounded like George W Bush saying that we should be afraid in order to justify missile defence," she said.

Her friend, Michaela Freeman added: "There was deep silence when he mentioned it. He is amazing, it is wonderful and unbelievable that he is here but the charm did not work for this policy."

Dana Feminova was among peaceful demonstrators prevented by armed riot police from registering a missile defence protest in front of the conference centre where the US president met with European Union leaders after his speech.

"He has said that he wants to listen to Europe but he does not respect Czech democracy. Over 70 per cent of us are against missile defence which has been forced on us," said the 38-year aid worker.