A group of anti-NATO activists block a tram track while protesting in downtown Strasbourg, eastern France, Saturday April 4, 2009, during NATO's 60th-anniversary summit. Police held back protesters with tear gas and detained two dozen people in a pre-dawn clash before a summit of leaders of 28 NATO nations on the French-German border. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) (Michel Spingler - AP) From Washington Post:
PRAGUE, April 4 -- As elsewhere in Europe, President Obama received the red-carpet treatment when he arrived in the Czech Republic on Saturday. But he was also greeted by crowds of demonstrators who have nearly succeeded in defeating a key component of the Pentagon's missile-defense shield and who want Obama to bury the project for good.
Polls show that about 70 percent of Czechs oppose the shield, a futuristic project designed to intercept long-range missiles fired by Iran at Europe or the United States. Despite popular opinion, the Czech government signed a treaty with the Bush administration in July to host a radar tracking system, one of two legs of the shield that would be based in Eastern Europe.
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My Comment: This issue has zero resonance for the Czech electorate .... but for the media this is a golden issue to discuss non-stop.