Standing alongside U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Poland"s prime minister said today his country was ready to participate in the Obama administration"s revamped plan for a U.S. missile defense shield in Europe, AP reported. President Barack Obama removed a major irritant in relations with Russia last month by scrapping U.S. plans to place 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic to intercept long-range missiles from «rogue» states such as Iran. The Bush-era plan had enraged Moscow. The Kremlin has praised Obama for the decision, but Russian officials also have said they want to know more about what missile defense system the U.S. will use instead. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomed the U.S. proposal for a missile shield that would replace a bulkier version previously planned for Poland. «I want to stress that Poland views ... the new configuration for the missile shield as very interesting, necessary, and we are ready at the appropriate scale to participate,» Tusk said at a news conference with Biden. Biden, on the first stop of a three-nation trip aimed at reassuring Washington"s allies in the region of its support, praised Warsaw for its readiness to accept the revamped plan. His trip was the highest-level visit yet by the Obama administration to Poland. «We appreciate Poland has stepped up and agreed to host an element of the previous missile defense plan, and we now appreciate that Poland"s government agrees with us that there is now a better way ... with new technology and new information, to defend against emerging ballistic missile threats,» Biden said.
