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

Re: [alpha] INSIGHT - CZECH REPUBLIC - BMD, US, Russia, military & more - CZ103 & CZ104
Email-ID 	117802
Date 	2011-09-02 22:31:54
From 	[email protected]
To 	[email protected]
List-Name 	[email protected]
yea, the CzRs are nervous about someone like McFaul messing it up.
btw, he was at the dinner I went to last night... the Uzbeks were falling
all over themselves to speak with him.
On 9/2/11 2:01 PM, Eugene Chausovsky wrote:

This is fascinating stuff. You can how much the C. Europeans want the
Intermarium to materialize, all with the explicit backing of the US.

The question is how willing with the US be to go along with this F-16
plan...

On 9/2/11 12:27 PM, Marc Lanthemann wrote:

Link: themeData



CzR = Czech Republic



CODE: CZ103 & 104
PUBLICATION: yes
ATTRIBUTION: Stratfor sources in Prague/Washington
SOURCE DESCRIPTION:

103 - Deputy to the Czech Ambassador; moving in Oct to be deputy FM

104 - Czech security attache

(Ambassador stopped in for a few min)

SOURCE RELIABILITY: B
ITEM CREDIBILITY: 3
DISSEMINATION: Alpha
HANDLER: Lauren





The CEs need NATO. Plain and simple. They need a functional NATO. And
they need NATO to return to its primary focus-containment of the large
threat (Russia), and protection of the NATO land (them). Containment
has to be the primary focus for NATO. No matter who you are, if you're
in NATO, you need to understand this.

CzR doesn't see NATO doing this with tanks, like before. It will do
this with missile defense and military projects (F16s-see below).
Planting NATO's flag on CE soil. So that Russia cannot do that
instead.



Yes, NATO has lost its focus with the wars, but BMD and such can unite
and refocus NATO once again.



BMD



CzR wants a role in missile defense. This cannot be stressed enough.
The announcement under Obama to give bmd to others obliterated the
Czech-US relationship-it is non-existent now.



Now this may seem contrary to what has been in the media, but everyone
has it wrong on what actually happened in the Czech-US bmd
negotiations under Bush. To start with, no one is/was straightforward
in the negotiations. Yes, it is understandable that the US keeps their
plans secret, but not when you are suppose to have a partner in the
negotiations.



So here is how it played out: Bush's team came to CzR and proposed for
the country to be part of the "bmd system". That was all they said.
Some officials alluded that it would be the radar. In the Czech
government, there was agreement that bmd was imperative. But every
piece of formal documentation from the US was incredibly vague and
didn't spell out what would actually be coming into CzR as part of the
system. It was very strange and confusing. We had never done
negotiations like this. So, we put off signing any document until we
could know what exactly we were agreeing to. Why would we agree to be
part of the bmd system, and not know what exactly that meant? Then
they came to us and said that CzR would have to pay for its part of
the system. We didn't have that sort of money at the time. It was a
mess.



Then the new plan came from Obama in 2009. Obama's plan didn't have
the radar in Czech Republic anymore. Obama's team said that Czech
Republic wasn't a "priority" for their administration and that other
countries were more important to put the radar in-Romania, Turkey,
Lithuania or others. Problem is that Romania says they have the deal,
but they haven't had confirmation from the US on this. Turkey also
thinks it has the deal, but it doesn't have confirmation either. No
one knows who is getting the radar portion of the system. Everyone
wants it. The Obama team then came to CzR and offered a "piece" of the
bmd system. We were excited. But when we got the the formal proposal,
it was for a "bmd scientific research center". This was simply
unacceptable. This was not good enough for us. CzR needs US military
on its soil, not a "research" center with no military and would have
to be paid for by the Czechs anyway. Completely ridiculous. So we
pulled out of any agreement to the current system.



If the US came and said that radar would be put in CzR, we would agree
immediately. But instead the US doesn't value CzR relationship at all.



When CzR publicly pulled out of the current bmd system in June,
Russian FM immediately called Czech FM and said that it appreciated
the reconsideration. Czech FM said that it had nothing to do with
Russia. That Russia hadn't intimidated it to change its stance,
instead CzR was more fired up to "retaliate" against Russian
aggression.



As far as the current talks between the US and Russia on bmd, most of
the CEs want to sabotage them. No one wants Russia in on bmd.
Moreover, no one wants the US and Russia to be friendly. The US needs
to quit with this reset-nonsense and move forward with a firm military
strategy in CE. The CEs want to move against Russia, but can't do it
alone.



New CE Security Plan



So if CzR can't get in the bmd system, there is another deal we will
push for, as we are determined to get US military on our soil.



CzR wants a batch of F-16s like Poland. It needs supersonic. It
doesn't really want the new Grippen. CzR is begging the US right now
for F-16s. The US said it would sell them, but at an exorbitant price.
They are far too expensive for CzR who has had to slash some of their
defense budget because of the financial crisis.



Also, other countries who sell military equipment to CzR and the CEs
do it within other deals, so it isn't just an expensive military deal.
For example, the French sell things to CzR, but then purchase
agricultural equipment from CzR in trade-all part of one deal (LG: I
pointed out how the Russians do this all the time. Military trade for
gold deals, etc). This creates a relationship more than just around
one sector. The US hasn't done this.



So the plan that CzR is now presenting is for 5 or 6 Central European
countries to go in together and do a mass order of the F-16s in
exchange for a discount by the US. It would be Romania, Slovakia,
Hungary, Bulgaria and maybe more for Poland - for 85 or so F-16s. It
would be interesting because then all of them could train together in
one country and then set up a repair factory in another country. The
countries would be tied together - and tied to the US. The US would
need to have military on the ground to train the CEs. This is the best
sort of security alliance between US and CEs.



If CzR can't get bmd or the F16 deal, then it is done with any
non-Eurasian commitments to NATO. Period. If CzR can get bmd or the
F16s, then it will pretty much agree to any sort of military
commitment the US wants anywhere in the world. That is the ultimatum.



Germans



CzR is really on a different page on most issues than Germany. But is
on the same page as pretty much everything with the Poles. So the
Poles and other Central Europeans are its true partners. The Germans
are like toddlers in their defense strategy. They have been divided
for so long, that they do not understand how to act inside of NATO.
This is why they are nice to the Russians. It is the wrong strategy
with them. The Germans think they can handle the Russians. They can't.
Germany can't get the other NATO members to agree with it, so it only
works bilaterally with the Russians, undermining NATO's focus.



Other Alliances



Nordic Alliance is a fascinating thing, but there is no plan for V4
yet. Sure it'll have a battlegroup, but it'll be under the EU and not
really going to flesh out without some "outside" help. V4 is
overestimated in the US. There is no structure or command plan for it.
It has been a painful process under the EU.



Ukraine



CzR is worried about Ukraine. It is so pro-Russian that there is a
concern that it will militarize under the Moscow umbrella. Everyone in
CE is concerned about this militarization.



McFaul



On McFaul: everyone in CE hates dealing with him. He is deluded. He
believes that Russia can actually be pulled into being an ally with
the US. McFaul wants to use Regan's gameplan. He constantly quotes
Regan. On a sidenote, in McFaul's office there is a large (really
large, like4x3) photo blown up above his desk of McFaul, Obama,
Medvedev and Putin all sitting around the lunchtable smiling. However,
the way I heard it was that McFaul was scared to death of Putin and
stuttered the entire time.

--
Lauren Goodrich
Senior Eurasia Analyst
STRATFOR
T: 512.744.4311
F: 512.744.4334
[email protected]
www.stratfor.com

--
Lauren Goodrich
Senior Eurasia Analyst
STRATFOR
T: 512.744.4311
F: 512.744.4334
[email protected]
www.stratfor.com