Obama Arrives In Prague; Security Tight

(AP)  Sharpshooters scouted out positions on Prague's red tile rooftops and police stepped up patrols across the Czech capital Saturday as authorities tightened security for President Barack Obama's weekend summit with leaders of European Union countries.

Officials planned to impose a no-fly zone over Prague starting at midday, and police increased their presence on Wenceslas Square and other popular tourist landmarks.

Obama arrived late Saturday. On Sunday, he will meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other European leaders, and deliver a speech laying out a long-term goal to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Obama also is expected to chat briefly with playwright and former president Vaclav Havel, who led the 1989 Velvet Revolution that peacefully toppled communism in the former Czechoslovakia.

Thousands of people planned a demonstration Sunday urging the U.S. and Czech governments to scrap plans to put part of a missile defense system outside Prague. Many Czechs oppose the plan and fear it would make their country a terrorist target.

Activists draped a banner over a bridge on the Vltava River that read: "YES WE CAN ... SAY NO TO U.S. MILITARY BASE." And later Saturday, a small group of Communist Party demonstrators marched to the U.S. Embassy, chanting: "Yankee Go Home!"

The Bush administration angered Russia by pushing to install radar dishes at a Czech military base and put 10 interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland. Washington argued that the shield would help thwart an attack from Iran or elsewhere in the Middle East. Obama, who is trying to ease strained relations with Moscow, has said only that he is reviewing the plan.

Environmentalists also planned a rally in Prague on Sunday to call on Obama and the EU leaders to take quicker action on climate change.

Pressure is mounting on governments to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the run-up to a major U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen in December. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said the issue - along with the global economic crisis - would dominate the 27-nation EU's talks with Obama.

"Now the question is what obligations the United States will take on to contribute to a deal for the time after the Kyoto Protocol," Merkel said Saturday. "We look forward to the new cooperation because the American president has made clear that the U.S. will take on a leading role in this."

"European leaders must use this EU-US summit to kick off a new era for trans-Atlantic action on climate change, backed up by ambitious action at home," said Matthias Duwe of the Climate Action Network.

Map: Obama's Overseas Trip A day-by-day guide to one of the most closely watched presidential trips in recent memory.

"EU citizens welcomed President Obama last time he was in Europe, and welcome his commitment to combat global warming. He must now match his fine words with strong leadership in the international negotiations," Duwe said.

Up to 30,000 people were expected to pack a square near Prague's medieval castle for Obama's speech.

The Czech Defense Ministry outlined elaborate security measures that will include military aircraft, helicopters and special units trained to handle a chemical or biological attack. It said the army would join about 4,000 police officers being deployed over the weekend.

The Czech Republic holds the rotating presidency of the EU, which holds a summit with the U.S. president at least once a year.

Obama will ask the Europeans to consider sending more troops to Afghanistan and to take some of the prisoners now held at the U.S. detention center for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Obama administration wants to close the prison by January, but it has been having trouble finding countries willing to take detainees.

Merkel said EU leaders also want to discuss with Obama what can be done to help countries such as Ukraine and some of the Balkan nations that have been badly hit by the economic crisis.

Obama's visit comes just two weeks after Topolanek's government collapsed amid bitter political infighting over the economic crisis and other issues.

The collapse embarrassed Czechs, and Topolanek caused another stir by denouncing Obama's economic stimulus plan as "the road to hell."

[Aldymac]

Some of you won't like this, but many of the things clinton started were being dealt with all through the Bush administration and have been carried on through the present administration.
For those of you who don't want to be a socialist nation, if you voted for BO, you will probably get what you voted for, The word "democrat" is a french, word, translated into english it means "socialist".

[WayAround]

April 5, 2009

Obama talks about the "threat of nuclear weapons" during his visit to Prague, Czech Republic, where most citizens do not want the U.S. missile defense system.

North Korea launches a missile on the same day.

July 8, 2008

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Prague to persuade Czechs that they should allow the U.S. missile defense system in their country.

One day later, Iran launches at least three test missiles.


You know, that's just a little too much coincidence.

[woodjd42]

As Obama marches around Europe spewing hatred and placing blame on the U.S (shades of Reverend Wright), North Korea launches a missile that is a threat to all. The North Koreans wouldn't think he was a weak fool, would they? What a great leader we have! Obama failed his first international challenge.
Posted by budmag06

What an idiot you are. bush/chaney are the ones that ignored North Korea and choose to attack some weak country that wasn't a threat to the U.S. Now that someone has to come in and fix the mess bush/chaney got us into you want to act tough when bush/chaney has ruined our military by spreading them so thin we couldn't react if we had too. You idiot, put the blame where it lies. On bush/chaney and people like you. You talk tough as long as you aren't on the front lines.

[budmag06]

As Obama marches around Europe spewing hatred and placing blame on the U.S (shades of Reverend Wright), North Korea launches a missile that is a threat to all. The North Koreans wouldn't think he was a weak fool, would they? What a great leader we have! Obama failed his first international challenge.

[cs4466]

I think Hussein Obama is failing every promise he made during the campaign.

Obama= failure
Posted by picogg at 8:35 PM : Apr 4, 2009

Aww... hon. That must be uncomfortable for you. That turban's too tight and it's squeezing your brain.

[rowdy6680]

I would have to agree with your words...I'm sure nobody wants American soldiers in their territory and I still to this day wonder why America has to be the "World Police." We've wasted billions of dollars trying to help other countries get their sh*t together for nothing and yet our country is in shambles. Makes me really wonder about both Dem's and Repubs wanting to tackle the worlds problems but they always forget what country they are in and where the fixes need to happen first. Been this way for way too long. Feeling guilty is no reason for sending troops..ie Somalia or anywhere else really. These countries need to follow the path they are on without our influence. Just like in the ancient past, either the people rise up and fix things or they don't. It's NOT the US responsibility to fix everything in the world, even at the expense of our GDP. I wish the politicians would see and understand this...including Bush and Obama. We waste way too much money overseas when it is needed here for OUR country!

[WayAround]

This CBS article does not paint an accurate picture about security in Prague for Obama's visit.

Czechs are a "holier than the Pope" type of people. When they have a b*tt to kiss--Obama's b*tt at present--they go overboard in their sycophancy.

Commentators on Czech radio have been saying that the American entourage told the Czech government to RELAX their security measures because they were way too far over the top.

[WayAround]

a small group of Communist Party demonstrators marched to the U.S. Embassy, chanting: "Yankee Go Home!"

Communists are NOT the only people in the Czech Republic who wish the Yanks would go home.

It's a typical strategy used by the Czech government to make the Yanks, in this case, look good. Nobody likes the Communists (except for a few 70+ year old die hards), so organize a protest by Communists against the Yanks.

Sheeple in the Czech Republic (sheeple are everywhere) will think, "If the Communists hate the Yanks, then the Yanks must be good."

[WayAround]

Non-Sequitur wrote: "the shield...That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

You're right.

Czechs do not oppose the missile defense system because, as the article states, "it would make their country a terrorist target". They oppose it because Russian tanks left their country not too long ago, and they don't want American troops on their soil as a replacement.

What a coincidence--that's the real reason for the missile defense system. To get a foot in the door with American troops in the Czech Republic.

[realnews12]

picogg=failure

Obama=success