Fighting words and patriot games

The ongoing controversy surrounding the American anti-missile shield took a few odd detours last week. Daily Rzeczpospolita published a claim on Friday, apparently based on diplomatic sources, that the US side wanted Poland to bear part of the costs of constructing an interceptor missile system which would protect the missile-shield base.

When asked about the topic, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński responded, "I'm afraid the media is being drawn into some kind of bad game." Later that day, the press spokesperson for the American Missile Defense Agency, Rick Lehner, firmly debunked the claim.

"I've heard nothing about that. The total cost of building, around $500-600 million, will be covered by the US," Lehner told the Polish Press Agency, speaking from the Pentagon.

This strange game of rumors capped a week of sharp Russian rhetoric. Earlier in the week, Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, had warned that the missile shield risked "turning the continent into a tinderbox." On Friday, the Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, speaking in an interview with Russian daily Rossiskaya Gazeta, likened construction of the shield to "a booby-trap bomb under the door to our apartment."

The Polish side has expressed disappointment with the fact that the US is limiting the negotiations to agreements on the status of soldiers and construction of the missile base. Poland wants a wider agreement on defense policy, that would specify when and how the US would provide military help to Poland. (Reuters)