"As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defence system that is cost-effective and proven," he told a crowd of about 20,000 gathered in Hradcany Square, next to Prague Castle.
"Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbours and our allies."
PRAGUE - President Obama said that North Korea violated international rules when it tested a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles, and he called on the United Nations Security Council to take action.
"This provocation underscores the need for action, not just this afternoon at the Security Council but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons," Mr. Obama said. "Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something."
The
new arms race in space is shaping up to be the largest industrial
project in Earth's history. To pay for this project, the aerospace
industry has been lobbying Washington for a dedicated funding source.
Budget allocations for missile defense - Star Wars - are only part of
the huge sums of money redirected toward preparations for war in space.
President Obama
received a lesson in international gamesmanship last week, when his
secret offer to trade the deployment of a controversial missile defense
system in Eastern Europe for Russian assistance in getting Iran to back
down from its nuclear program was publicly rebuffed. The lesson? You
don't get something for nothing, especially when the something you're
looking for is, itself, nothing.
WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has written to his Russian counterpart about the relationship between US plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe and the Iranian "threat," a senior US official said on Tuesday.
But the overture was rebuffed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who said in Spain Tuesday that it was "not productive" to link talks over a US missile defense system in Europe with Iran's suspected nuclear program as proposed by Washington.
The world is still pleasurably suffering from Woah-bama whiplash. Did he really win? Are we all awake? And would anybody mind if he starts a few months early? The need for decisions is rapidly piling up – and one of Obama's first choices is whether to bring to an end one of the strangest episodes in American political history.
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama has made no commitment that a missile defense shield in eastern Europe will go ahead, an advisor to the president-elect said Saturday, in apparent contradiction of statements by Poland.
Earlier, a statement from Polish President Lech Kaczynski after the two men spoke by telephone said Obama had said he would go ahead with plans to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe despite threats from Russia.
Dmitri Medvedev is to go
to Washington next week for the first time as Russian president, with
the chances of a meeting with president-elect Barack Obama clouded by
his decision to station missiles in the heart of Europe.
