Missile-defense circus

Before the elections, Donald Trump said his administration would pursue state-of-the-art missile defense. In a dramatic report on Nov. 10, Czech TV gave the impression of obtaining a fresh interview with Rudy Giuliani, in which he said that, "We will once again have nuclear defense for Poland and the Czech Republic." Three days later, on Nov. 13, OVM devoted seven minutes to the issue and put a Nov. 10 date on Giuliani's comment. Bohuslav Sobotka reacted emphatically and said that a missile-defense shield in the CR is science fiction that will never happen. On Nov. 27, OVM returned to the issue and put a Nov. 11 date on Giuliani's comment. Defense Min. Martin Stropnický finally had the good sense to say diplomatically that Giuliani was talking nonsense, because the missile-defense shield had already been set up in Romania and Poland (which Sobotka failed to mention). Giuliani's original comment, as Michal Kubal of ČT revealed, was actually made weeks before the Nov. 8 election. It was just pre-election verbiage by Giuliani, but it sure made for good media hype on Czech TV.