The impact of United States national missile defense on US - Russian relations, Central European security, and leverage

The decision to place U.S. military installations in Central Europe in 2007 was met with rampant hostility, continuing a long held tradition of controversy surrounding U.S. National Missile Defense. The signing of agreements to place a military tracking radar in the Czech Republic and complementary interceptor missiles in Poland, and the subsequent canceling of this program with the change of the U.S. administration have had an important impact on U.S. -- Russian relations, as well as the relationship between the U.S. and its partners in Central Europe and NATO.This paper will examine the evolution of this issue by examining the history of missile defense and the roles of the concerned parties in order to analyze the implications this holds for the future of U.S. -- Russian -- European relations.