Don't like ads? PRO users don't see any ads ;-)

STRATFOR E-Mail #24: Re: [alpha] INSIGHT - CZECH REPUBLIC -

By: theunpromisedone3 on Feb 27th, 2012  |  syntax: None  |  size: 8.68 KB  |  hits: 77  |  expires: Never
download  |  raw  |  embed  |  report abuse  |  print
Text below is selected. Please press Ctrl+C to copy to your clipboard. (⌘+C on Mac)
  1. Re: [alpha] INSIGHT - CZECH REPUBLIC - BMD, US, Russia, military & more - CZ103 & CZ104
  2. Email-ID        117802
  3. Date    2011-09-02 22:31:54
  4. List-Name       [email protected]
  5. yea, the CzRs are nervous about someone like McFaul messing it up.
  6. btw, he was at the dinner I went to last night... the Uzbeks were falling
  7. all over themselves to speak with him.
  8. On 9/2/11 2:01 PM, Eugene Chausovsky wrote:
  9.  
  10. This is fascinating stuff. You can how much the C. Europeans want the
  11. Intermarium to materialize, all with the explicit backing of the US.
  12.  
  13. The question is how willing with the US be to go along with this F-16
  14. plan...
  15.  
  16. On 9/2/11 12:27 PM, Marc Lanthemann wrote:
  17.  
  18. Link: themeData
  19.  
  20.  
  21.  
  22. CzR = Czech Republic
  23.  
  24.  
  25.  
  26. CODE: CZ103 & 104
  27. PUBLICATION: yes
  28. ATTRIBUTION: Stratfor sources in Prague/Washington
  29. SOURCE DESCRIPTION:
  30.  
  31. 103 - Deputy to the Czech Ambassador; moving in Oct to be deputy FM
  32.  
  33. 104 - Czech security attache
  34.  
  35. (Ambassador stopped in for a few min)
  36.  
  37. SOURCE RELIABILITY: B
  38. ITEM CREDIBILITY: 3
  39. DISSEMINATION: Alpha
  40. HANDLER: Lauren
  41.  
  42.  
  43.  
  44.  
  45.  
  46. The CEs need NATO. Plain and simple. They need a functional NATO. And
  47. they need NATO to return to its primary focus-containment of the large
  48. threat (Russia), and protection of the NATO land (them). Containment
  49. has to be the primary focus for NATO. No matter who you are, if you're
  50. in NATO, you need to understand this.
  51.  
  52. CzR doesn't see NATO doing this with tanks, like before. It will do
  53. this with missile defense and military projects (F16s-see below).
  54. Planting NATO's flag on CE soil. So that Russia cannot do that
  55. instead.
  56.  
  57.  
  58.  
  59. Yes, NATO has lost its focus with the wars, but BMD and such can unite
  60. and refocus NATO once again.
  61.  
  62.  
  63.  
  64. BMD
  65.  
  66.  
  67.  
  68. CzR wants a role in missile defense. This cannot be stressed enough.
  69. The announcement under Obama to give bmd to others obliterated the
  70. Czech-US relationship-it is non-existent now.
  71.  
  72.  
  73.  
  74. Now this may seem contrary to what has been in the media, but everyone
  75. has it wrong on what actually happened in the Czech-US bmd
  76. negotiations under Bush. To start with, no one is/was straightforward
  77. in the negotiations. Yes, it is understandable that the US keeps their
  78. plans secret, but not when you are suppose to have a partner in the
  79. negotiations.
  80.  
  81.  
  82.  
  83. So here is how it played out: Bush's team came to CzR and proposed for
  84. the country to be part of the "bmd system". That was all they said.
  85. Some officials alluded that it would be the radar. In the Czech
  86. government, there was agreement that bmd was imperative. But every
  87. piece of formal documentation from the US was incredibly vague and
  88. didn't spell out what would actually be coming into CzR as part of the
  89. system. It was very strange and confusing. We had never done
  90. negotiations like this. So, we put off signing any document until we
  91. could know what exactly we were agreeing to. Why would we agree to be
  92. part of the bmd system, and not know what exactly that meant? Then
  93. they came to us and said that CzR would have to pay for its part of
  94. the system. We didn't have that sort of money at the time. It was a
  95. mess.
  96.  
  97.  
  98.  
  99. Then the new plan came from Obama in 2009. Obama's plan didn't have
  100. the radar in Czech Republic anymore. Obama's team said that Czech
  101. Republic wasn't a "priority" for their administration and that other
  102. countries were more important to put the radar in-Romania, Turkey,
  103. Lithuania or others. Problem is that Romania says they have the deal,
  104. but they haven't had confirmation from the US on this. Turkey also
  105. thinks it has the deal, but it doesn't have confirmation either. No
  106. one knows who is getting the radar portion of the system. Everyone
  107. wants it. The Obama team then came to CzR and offered a "piece" of the
  108. bmd system. We were excited. But when we got the the formal proposal,
  109. it was for a "bmd scientific research center". This was simply
  110. unacceptable. This was not good enough for us. CzR needs US military
  111. on its soil, not a "research" center with no military and would have
  112. to be paid for by the Czechs anyway. Completely ridiculous. So we
  113. pulled out of any agreement to the current system.
  114.  
  115.  
  116.  
  117. If the US came and said that radar would be put in CzR, we would agree
  118. immediately. But instead the US doesn't value CzR relationship at all.
  119.  
  120.  
  121.  
  122. When CzR publicly pulled out of the current bmd system in June,
  123. Russian FM immediately called Czech FM and said that it appreciated
  124. the reconsideration. Czech FM said that it had nothing to do with
  125. Russia. That Russia hadn't intimidated it to change its stance,
  126. instead CzR was more fired up to "retaliate" against Russian
  127. aggression.
  128.  
  129.  
  130.  
  131. As far as the current talks between the US and Russia on bmd, most of
  132. the CEs want to sabotage them. No one wants Russia in on bmd.
  133. Moreover, no one wants the US and Russia to be friendly. The US needs
  134. to quit with this reset-nonsense and move forward with a firm military
  135. strategy in CE. The CEs want to move against Russia, but can't do it
  136. alone.
  137.  
  138.  
  139.  
  140. New CE Security Plan
  141.  
  142.  
  143.  
  144. So if CzR can't get in the bmd system, there is another deal we will
  145. push for, as we are determined to get US military on our soil.
  146.  
  147.  
  148.  
  149. CzR wants a batch of F-16s like Poland. It needs supersonic. It
  150. doesn't really want the new Grippen. CzR is begging the US right now
  151. for F-16s. The US said it would sell them, but at an exorbitant price.
  152. They are far too expensive for CzR who has had to slash some of their
  153. defense budget because of the financial crisis.
  154.  
  155.  
  156.  
  157. Also, other countries who sell military equipment to CzR and the CEs
  158. do it within other deals, so it isn't just an expensive military deal.
  159. For example, the French sell things to CzR, but then purchase
  160. agricultural equipment from CzR in trade-all part of one deal (LG: I
  161. pointed out how the Russians do this all the time. Military trade for
  162. gold deals, etc). This creates a relationship more than just around
  163. one sector. The US hasn't done this.
  164.  
  165.  
  166.  
  167. So the plan that CzR is now presenting is for 5 or 6 Central European
  168. countries to go in together and do a mass order of the F-16s in
  169. exchange for a discount by the US. It would be Romania, Slovakia,
  170. Hungary, Bulgaria and maybe more for Poland - for 85 or so F-16s. It
  171. would be interesting because then all of them could train together in
  172. one country and then set up a repair factory in another country. The
  173. countries would be tied together - and tied to the US. The US would
  174. need to have military on the ground to train the CEs. This is the best
  175. sort of security alliance between US and CEs.
  176.  
  177.  
  178.  
  179. If CzR can't get bmd or the F16 deal, then it is done with any
  180. non-Eurasian commitments to NATO. Period. If CzR can get bmd or the
  181. F16s, then it will pretty much agree to any sort of military
  182. commitment the US wants anywhere in the world. That is the ultimatum.
  183.  
  184.  
  185.  
  186. Germans
  187.  
  188.  
  189.  
  190. CzR is really on a different page on most issues than Germany. But is
  191. on the same page as pretty much everything with the Poles. So the
  192. Poles and other Central Europeans are its true partners. The Germans
  193. are like toddlers in their defense strategy. They have been divided
  194. for so long, that they do not understand how to act inside of NATO.
  195. This is why they are nice to the Russians. It is the wrong strategy
  196. with them. The Germans think they can handle the Russians. They can't.
  197. Germany can't get the other NATO members to agree with it, so it only
  198. works bilaterally with the Russians, undermining NATO's focus.
  199.  
  200.  
  201.  
  202. Other Alliances
  203.  
  204.  
  205.  
  206. Nordic Alliance is a fascinating thing, but there is no plan for V4
  207. yet. Sure it'll have a battlegroup, but it'll be under the EU and not
  208. really going to flesh out without some "outside" help. V4 is
  209. overestimated in the US. There is no structure or command plan for it.
  210. It has been a painful process under the EU.
  211.  
  212.  
  213.  
  214. Ukraine
  215.  
  216.  
  217.  
  218. CzR is worried about Ukraine. It is so pro-Russian that there is a
  219. concern that it will militarize under the Moscow umbrella. Everyone in
  220. CE is concerned about this militarization.
  221.  
  222.  
  223.  
  224. McFaul
  225.  
  226.  
  227.  
  228. On McFaul: everyone in CE hates dealing with him. He is deluded. He
  229. believes that Russia can actually be pulled into being an ally with
  230. the US. McFaul wants to use Regan's gameplan. He constantly quotes
  231. Regan. On a sidenote, in McFaul's office there is a large (really
  232. large, like4x3) photo blown up above his desk of McFaul, Obama,
  233. Medvedev and Putin all sitting around the lunchtable smiling. However,
  234. the way I heard it was that McFaul was scared to death of Putin and
  235. stuttered the entire time.
  236.  
  237. --
  238. Lauren Goodrich
  239. Senior Eurasia Analyst
  240. STRATFOR
  241. T: 512.744.4311
  242. F: 512.744.4334
  243. www.stratfor.com
  244.  
  245. --
  246. Lauren Goodrich
  247. Senior Eurasia Analyst
  248. STRATFOR
  249. T: 512.744.4311
  250. F: 512.744.4334
  251. www.stratfor.com