I fully expect him to announce that he has "secured peace in our time" on five different networks during his Full Ginsburg this weekend. Unbelievable.
Also covered in other media, but I thought the Russian take was remarkably restrained since Dear Leader pretty much folded. I can only assume that there is some quid pro quo with the Russians concerning Iran in this deal somewhere. It had better be something like total abandonment of nuclear research and free oil for a decade.
http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/17-09-2009/109344-missile_defense-0 US President Barack Obama said during a phone conversation with Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer that the United States was going to abandon the plans to deploy a radar station of the US missile defense system in the republic.
An official of the Czech government said in an interview the local Mlada Fronta DNES newspaper that Prague was expecting official documents from Washington in the next few hours. In addition, a delegation of the US State Department with Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher at that head, was to arrive in the Czech Republic to discuss the issue.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that a U.S. decision to shelve plans for a missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland "is a positive step."
Rasmussen said he had talks with the U.S. top envoy to the alliance on Thursday morning about the changes in the plans, adding the full alliance would be debriefed later in the day, The Associated Press reports.
Czech Premier Jan Fischer said Thursday that President Barack Obama told him Washington has decided to scrap the plan that had deeply angered Russia, The AP said.
The news on the subject of the US missile defense system is plentiful today (September 17). The Associated Press, for instance, said that the US administration was about to complete the analysis of plans connected with the deployment of the missile defense system elements in Central Europe. The agency made a reference to Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The governments of Poland and the Czech Republic will be informed about the results of the analysis, the AP said.
An anonymous source at the Obama administration told The AP that the United States was going to approve an alternative missile defense plan in Europe. The source disclosed no details of the intention, but said that it would not contain anything that could raise Russia’s concerns.
The WSJ wrote that the renunciation of missile defense plans in the Czech Republic was based on the slow development of the Iranian nuclear program.
“The U.S. will base its decision on a determination that Iran's long-range missile program hasn't progressed as rapidly as previously estimated, reducing the threat to the continental U.S. and major European capitals,” the newspaper wrote with reference to current and former US officials, who whished to remain anonymous.