Czechs will not host US missile warning centre

Prague is dropping plans to host an early warning centre assessing data for a planned US anti-missile shield in Europe, the CTK news agency said Wednesday, quoting the Czech defence minister. Plans for the centre are "out-of-date" and the Czech Republic will look for other ways to get involved in the now NATO-adopted anti-missile project, minister Alexandr Vondra said after meeting William Lynn, deputy US secretary of defence, in Prague. The centre was seen by Czech politicians as a consolation project after US President Barack Obama had scrapped in September 2009 plans to build a powerful anti-missile radar on Czech soil, promoted by his predecessor George W. Bush. Surveys showed some 70 percent of Czechs had disapproved of the radar. The shield plan enraged Russia, which called it a security menace on its doorstep, although Washington insisted the aim was to ward off a potential long-range missile threat from Iran.