Radar detects trouble

The newly confirmed Topolánek government is eager to allow the U.S. to build a missile-defense radar station in the CR. So eager, in fact, that it's blind to what's happening around it. Russia sharply opposes the move, and its state-owned TV station quoted a Kremlin-connected analyst who compared the decision to the blunder of going to war in Iraq. Some European politicians will be angry at the CR, because the bilateral agreement would circumvent Nato. The New York Times noted that missile defense doesn't work, and it questioned whether it ever will. U.S. lawmakers are starting to talk about cutting off funding for Iraq, which could also affect missile defense. The CR will have a difficult decision to make in the coming months. Should it risk alienating its friends and partners on both sides of the old Iron Curtain over a radar station that might not ever become operational? [Czech Republic United States of American USA television]