Ex-president Havel says Czech Republic should host US radar

Ex-president Václav Havel said in an interview for Czech public television on Monday that the Czech Republic should meet Washington’s request for the US to be able to deploy a tracking radar on Czech territory since the country had always been a good ally. Mr. Havel said Czechs had a lot to thank the United States for, since independent Czechoslovakia would most likely not have been established without US support, not would the Iron Curtain have been lifted without its influence. The ex-president rejected a claim made by the former Soviet president Michail Gorbachev who said the US radar would clearly be directed against Russia. “A radar is not directed against anyone, it is part of a defense system,” Mr. Havel countered.