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[JURIST] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg Tuesday signed an agreement allowing the US to install ballistic missile radar systems in the Czech Republic, prompting an immediate Russian threat of a "military-technical" response if the deal is implemented. The two signatories worked out most of the details of the agreement in April, but it has yet to be approved by the Czech parliament. An estimated two-thirds of Czechs oppose the pact and over 1000 protesters demonstrated Monday against its signing in Prague. The US is seeking a similar agreement with Poland, but that agreement has been delayed by disagreements over what other military aid might be involved. The International Herald Tribune has more. AP has additional coverage. The Russian Foreign Ministry, claiming the system would threaten Russia's national security, said afterwards in an official statement that "If a US strategic anti-missile shield starts to be deployed near our borders, we will be forced to react not in a diplomatic fashion but with military-technical means." The US insists that the system is designed to protect the region from attacks launched from the Middle East, and that it has offered to cooperate with Russia on the plan. Russia has long opposed the expansion of the missile defense system into Eastern Europe, suspending its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE) in Nove ...
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