...In one of the sharpest breaks yet with the policies of the Bush administration (click title to entry - thank you), Obama phoned the leaders of Poland and the Czech Republic last night to tell them that he had dropped plans to site missile interceptors and a radar station in their respective countries. Russia had furiously opposed the project, claiming it targeted Moscow's nuclear arsenal.
Obama is to announce the reversal officially at a news conference today. This morning the Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, revealed that Obama phoned him about it last night....
Let's get started. Russia played a huge role in defeating Hitler's Nazi War Machine. Russia took and held an entire border of Germany by themselves, they were the first to discover the 'Nazi Death Camps' and they were the first to retake Berlin.
Russia and Poland continue to argue over the Second World War (click here)
This online supplement is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the content
On September 1, at the ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Second World War in Poland, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk exchanged barbs over the legacy of the war. But why has the controversy over historical memory erupted in recent years, and why can’t it be left to historians?...
Pope to be accompanied by 100 people on visit to Czech Republic (click here)
Benedict XVI, 82, and his team will fly to Prague aboard a plane of the Italian Airlines. He will return to Rome by a Czech special plane.
The Pope's team will also include a personal doctor, his assistant, two interpreters, an official photographer and three experts in liturgical ceremonies.
On the other hand, Benedict XVI never takes a personal cook to his trips abroad as he is not on a special diet, a clerk, from the Vatican administration, told CTK.
The Vatican also confirmed that Benedict XVI would spend two nights in the Czech Republic in the seat of the Vatican diplomatic mission in Prague, Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican state secretariat, told CTK.
Two bulletproof "papa-mobiles" (cars specially adjusted for the Pope) were sent to the Czech Republic two weeks ahead of the visit. A Czech policeman is to drive them.
Hundreds of Czech policemen will protect the Pope during his three-day visit to the Czech Republic on September 26-28.
The security measures are to be as tight as during the April visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Prague....
