US missile shield would be major change of strategy: analysts

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

WARSAW (AFP) — If a US missile shield goes ahead in Europe as planned it will be a major shift towards a defensive strategy of deterrence in a new era of nuclear proliferation and rogue regimes, analysts said.

"The adoption of missile defence in Poland would imply a significant shift in Western strategic thinking," Benjamin Schreer, an analyst at the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs told AFP.

"With new terrorist threats and particularly the proliferation of ballistic missile systems and nuclear weapons, the West's offense-based security and deterrence strategy is no longer sufficient -- a new mix including offensive and defensive elements is necessary," he said.

The Czech Republic and Poland have difficult decisions to...