POLAND:PLANS TO install part of an American missile defence system in Poland are back on the agenda as senior US officials arrived in Warsaw yesterday for talks.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said he is optimistic of an agreement, citing Georgian events as justification for Polish demands that have left talks deadlocked.
In exchange for hosting 10 interceptor missiles in northern Poland, Mr Tusk wants the US to station additional Patriot missiles in Poland permanently; Washington has, to date, only been prepared to lease the missiles.
"Today it's much more probable than a few weeks ago that the American side will take into consideration the proposition of my government," said Mr Tusk, with a nod to the unrest in Georgia.
The Czech government has agreed to host a radar station, the other part of the system, and now has to win approval in parliament.
Mr Tusk has insisted that he will sign the deal as soon as Poland's security concerns are met.
The missile defence saga in Poland has become caught up in a bitter policy tug-of-war between Mr Tusk and his political rival, President Lech Kaczynski.
Mr Tusk and his centre-right government have mixed feelings about the missile defence project, and have considered stalling talks to deal with the next US president.
The conservative president, meanwhile, is a firm backer of the plan. Impatient at what he sees as government foot-dragging, he dispatched his own foreign policy envoy to Washington for talks - without telling Mr Tusk.
This latest round of talks will be headed by foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, following the dismissal of the government's chief negotiator Witold Waszczykowski.
He was fired after claiming in a magazine interview that the government was holding up agreement, not to get a better deal from Washington, but to prevent President Kaczynski getting the credit.
"I got the impression that political interests were more important than the safety of the nation," said Mr Waszczykowski.
"During talks among Donald Tusk and Radoslaw Sikorski ... there were opinions that a project is unacceptable if it could be perceived in public opinion as the president's success."
Russia opposes the anti-missile shield plan, viewing it as a threat to its national security. It has vowed to target its missiles at the system if it is deployed in Poland.
Washington argues that it needs the system to protect against possible future attacks from Iran.