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Radar protest aimed at embassy

Representative of No to Bases goes to Washington for talks

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 19th, 2008 issue

More than 1,200 people gathered in Malá Strana March 15 for the latest protest against a U.S. radar base on Czech soil planned as part of a U.S. missile-defense shield in Central Europe.
Organized by local civic organization No to Bases, the demonstration was an allegorical commemoration of Antiwar Day, marking the 69th anniversary of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Carrying papier-maché effigies of Czech and U.S. policymakers, including U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, the protesters marched through Malá Strana to the U.S. Embassy, where they attempted to hand officials a boxful of toy guns labeled “Iranian weapons of mass destruction.”
“We wanted to show that we won’t give up, that we want to get the remaining one-third of the public on our side,” said demonstrator and Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia spokeswoman Monika Hoření, referring to the fact that two-thirds of the public oppose the radar base. “The point was to alert the U.S. side of the overwhelming opposition. … The power of public opinion is enormous — it ended the Vietnam War.”
Several left-leaning politicians, including former Foreign Affairs Minister and Social Democrat Jan Kavan, also attended the protest.
No to Bases representative Jan Tamáš then met with U.S. politicians in Washington, D.C. March 17 to discuss local opposition.
The first part of the Czech-U.S. agreement on the radar base, which is sharply criticized by Russia, is expected to be signed at the NATO summit in Bucharest April 2–4, according to government radar spokesman Tomáš Klvaňa. However, negotiations regarding the SOFA agreement, which would provide the framework for the presence of U.S. armed forces on Czech territory, are still under way. “The next round of bilateral SOFA talks should be held later in April,” Klvaňa said.
If signed, the treaties still need to be ratified by Czech Parliament and the U.S. Congress.
While appreciative of the “peaceful nature” of the march, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Victoria Silverman said the symbolic box of toys presented by protesters did not take into account the reality of the threats from countries like Iran, whose nuclear enrichment program was mentioned as a topic of concern in a March 4 report issued by the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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[23:40 20/03/2008] : A strong defense is necessary for any nation to maintain its sovereignty. In 1939, the security of Czechoslovakia depended on solidarity of Europe. We all know how that ended up. Czechoslovakia was sacrificed because of the attitude of appeasement. It took the United States to defeat Hitler's aggression.

We have not seen any change in the European nations' desire to protect their own. The Czech Republic needs to pick its allies carefully. Remember, the United States is the only country that has fought for and liberated people all over the world without demanding tribute.

There are forces in the world that are threatening Europe with destruction. These forces are working diligently to develop weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. It is wise to have the means to defend oneself. An early warning system is needed.
Vladimir Va Cymbal
Tarzana California USA
[20:21 23/03/2008] : >>Remember, the United States is the only country that has fought for and liberated people all over the world without demanding tribute.

Eh...so where was the United States in 1939?

>>There are forces in the world that are threatening Europe with destruction.

True. But the threat comes from the other direction.
Margot Winston
Prague
[17:18 24/03/2008] : I agree with Vladimir Va Cymbal. It is why I will not vote for Clinton or Obama. With this said; however, it is striking at the number of people that dislike the USA when it attempts to defend. Sometimes I think we should pull out of NATO and remove our soldiers from EU soil.
Richard Elliot
Charlotte
[13:08 25/03/2008] : >>Eh...so where was the United States in 1939?

Eh....minding its own business on the other side of a huge ocean, while the Balkanized city-states of Europe bickered over petty, thousand-year-old slights each had inflicted on the others, so picayune that history didn't even record them.
The Kosovo nonsense is a prefect example. Some ridiculous 700-year-old dispute will be a pretext for more conflict and death.

Eh....this side of the Atlantic is where we're probably going to stay after Russia steamrollers over all of you in the coming decades. Divide and conquer is a standard military tactic, and you've taken care of the first part by yourselves.

Eh...and why does Ms. Winston begin every comment with:

"Eh... blah, blah, blah"?
Phillip David Haskett
Houston
[00:21 26/03/2008] : >>minding its own business on the other side of a huge ocean, while the Balkanized city-states of Europe bickered over petty, thousand-year-old slights each had inflicted on the others

So why didn't you stay there, instead of coming over to invade and occupy the continent, along with your friends the Soviet Union? You murdered about two million innocent civilians, and your friends in the USSR murdered the rest. Yet you are baffled by the fact that you are hated here.
Margot Winston
Prague
[17:49 26/03/2008] : Eh...so where was the United States in 1939?

As Mr. Haskett already pointed out, the country minded its own business financing Hitler's steel mills in Upper Silesia and following through on other wonderful business endeavors with Nazi Germany.
President Bush can attest to that. He, I'm sure, is very proud of his grandpapa's achievements.
Slav Bajerski
San Jose, CA
[04:30 27/03/2008] : Eh... this just proves one cannot argue with half-wits, who are so sure of their version of history that all the facts in the world won't change their minds. Now it was the United States who elected Hitler, or should have stopped him before he'd killed a single Jew. And it was the United States who "invaded" Europe, (you gotta be kidding me!) and murdered 2 million people.

Eh... I think both of these individuals need to read a few peer-reviewed history texts, instead of all that conspiracy crap they've been reading.
Phillip David Haskett
Houston
[17:14 27/03/2008] : This is not a "conspiracy crap they've been reading", but recently declassified material. See here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

And here:
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/vesting.html

So here is the pretty picture -- the Soviet Union supplied Nazi Germany with raw materials up until Operation Barbarossa in 1941. U.S. firms provided them with financial backing well into 1942. That was way long after German tanks rolled over most of Europe.
Slav Bajerski
San Jose, CA
[03:34 28/03/2008] : Like I said, more conspiracy crap. Anyone who believes U.S. firms financed the Nazi war machine after Hitler declared war on the United States on Dec. 11th, 1941, which for those of you who haven't bothered to read a real history book, was a few days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, simply aren't going to be dissuaded from your beliefs by a few inconvenient facts.

Another little tidbit of information that might disprove American assistance to the Nazis is the fact that the Kriegsmarine sank the American merchant marine ship SS Robin Moor off the coast of Sierra Leone on May 21st, 1941. I'm pretty sure that made the morning papers.

Is there anyone reading this blog who really believes the United States kept helping Hitler after that? That is assuming, arguendo, that we ever did.

To paraphrase Goethe: "None are so hopelessly ignorant as those who falsely believe they are smart."
Phillip David Haskett
Houston
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