In France and Germany on Friday, US President Barack Obama said he wanted to renew the trans-Atlantic partnership. Part of that alliance, though, involves more European troops for Afghanistan, he said. Unexpectedly, Obama called for a world without nuclear weapons.
No-fly zone implemented over Prague during president Obama's visit A no-fly zone with a radius of 50 kilometres will be imposed in the skies over Prague during American president Barack Obama's visit, it was announced on Friday. Only air-traffic with special dispensation will be allowed to fly over the Czech capital between Saturday lunchtime and midnight on Sunday, a spokesperson from the Czech army told journalists. Army planes and helicopters will be used as part of the security measures implemented especially for the American president's visit. Mr Obama is arriving in Prague on Saturday evening where he is expected to dine with his wife Michelle. On Sunday he will meet with EU leaders at an informal summit and deliver a much-anticipated speech in the vicinity of Prague Castle. Thousands of Czech police have been drafted in to protect the president, and American security services will also be on duty.
A no-fly zone with a radius of 50 kilometres will be imposed in the skies over Prague during American president Barack Obama's visit, it was announced on Friday. Only air-traffic with special dispensation will be allowed to fly over the Czech capital between Saturday lunchtime and midnight on Sunday, a spokesperson from the Czech army told journalists. Army planes and helicopters will be used as part of the security measures implemented especially for the American president's visit. Mr Obama is arriving in Prague on Saturday evening where he is expected to dine with his wife Michelle. On Sunday he will meet with EU leaders at an informal summit and deliver a much-anticipated speech in the vicinity of Prague Castle. Thousands of Czech police have been drafted in to protect the president, and American security services will also be on duty.
Poll: one third of Czechs expect missile defence shield to be scrapped by Obama administration Around one third of Czechs believe that plans for a US radar base to be built on Czech soil will be scrapped under the new Obama administration. Some 44 percent of Czechs, however, believe that an anti-missile defence shield will still be built in the coming years. The poll, conducted by the Factum Invenio agency and released on Friday, suggested that 70 percent of Czechs were opposed to plans for a US radar base in central Bohemia, while 25 percent were for the idea. Just under half of those polled said that they believed US-Russian relations would improve under the new administration; Russia has been one of the most outspoken critics of the proposed missile-defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland. The poll was released on the eve of President Barack Obama's visit to Prague, he is set to meet European Union leaders and deliver a major speech in the Czech capital on Sunday.
Around one third of Czechs believe that plans for a US radar base to be built on Czech soil will be scrapped under the new Obama administration. Some 44 percent of Czechs, however, believe that an anti-missile defence shield will still be built in the coming years. The poll, conducted by the Factum Invenio agency and released on Friday, suggested that 70 percent of Czechs were opposed to plans for a US radar base in central Bohemia, while 25 percent were for the idea. Just under half of those polled said that they believed US-Russian relations would improve under the new administration; Russia has been one of the most outspoken critics of the proposed missile-defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland. The poll was released on the eve of President Barack Obama's visit to Prague, he is set to meet European Union leaders and deliver a major speech in the Czech capital on Sunday.
Kind of the Bush speeches in front of carefull selected audience. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
Hamilton: The German case is particularly interesting. We seem to be observing a return to the "checkbook diplomacy"that has dominated German foreign policy for so long. During the years of the Bonn Republic, the Germans couldn't send troops into war zones due to constitutional constraints. They often helped financially instead. One could say: They couldn't play internationally but they could pay. This pattern was overcome, but we seem to be experiencing a renaissance of it now, ironically in the middle of a financial crisis where even checkbook diplomacy is no longer very popular. It is a worrying tendency because our foreign policy challenges are very real. This is not the time to avoid tough decisions.
Ummmm... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Anti-NATO activists have installed themselves not far from the centre of Strasbourg in the suburban town of Neuhoff. The anti-NATO village is home to anarchists and alter-globalists who describe it as "a place of meeting, of life, an expression of our rejection of NATO - the military machine that only protects capitalist interests". It's in this village that members of the Black Blocs - the group that clashed with police on the German border last night - are supposedly staying. But it's hard to know what exactly is going on as the "villagers" are less than willing to let the press in.
AFP - French police said Friday they made 300 arrests in clashes with demonstrators in Strasbourg ahead of a two-day NATO summit attended by 28 leaders including US President Barack Obama. Police said 105 people were still in custody on Friday morning after the clashes the previous day, which saw riot police fire tear gas to stop as many as 2,000 demonstrators marching on the heart of the summit city. Masked protestors clad in black used wooden stakes to smash around a dozen bus shelters and set fire to rubbish bins, setting up a barricade before police disbanded the marchers and pushed them back towards their camp. Around 25,000 police were on standby in the eastern French city to contain further protests during Friday and Saturday, which are expected to draw tens of thousands of people opposed to NATO's military operations.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he was opposed to Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen's bid to become the next NATO chief because of his handling of a row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
AFP - France agreed Friday to accept an inmate from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba as US President Barak Obama seeks help from European nations to close the notorious facility down. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the move, which could involve an Algerian detainee according to US officials, had been settled during talks in Strasbourg with Obama. "Yes we have spoken, yes we have agreed" to accept one detainee, Sarkozy told reporters in Strasbourg, northeastern France, ahead of a two-day NATO summit here and in the neighbouring German city of Kehl.
