Plans by the United States to deploy an anti-missile shield in EU newcomers Poland and the Czech Republic are "politically dangerous," former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Sunday, according to dpa. The project was an attempt "to establish an absurd policy of encirclement against Russia, which is anything but in the interest of Europe," Schroeder said in a speech prepared for delivery in Dresden. Schroeder warned of the danger of a new global arms race and appealed to Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to use its influence to persuade Washington to drop its plans. The US wants to install a radar base in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland as part of the global shield, which it claims is meant to protect against possible ballistic missile threats from foes such as North Korea.
