Sarkozy questions US missile shield plan

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
France's president sent a clear message Friday to the next American administration: Plans for a US missile shield in Eastern Europe are misguided, and won't make the continent a safer place. Nicolas Sarkozy also warned Russian President Dmitry Medvedev against upping tensions by deploying missiles on the borders of the European Union in response to the US planned missile defense system. Sarkozy's comments, at a summit with Medvedev, were the strongest to date by an American ally against the missile-defense plans _ and undercut the rationale behind US President George W. Bush's European security strategy. "Deployment of a missile defense system would bring nothing to security ... it would complicate things, and would make them move backward," Sarkozy said at a news conference with Medvedev. Medvedev smiled and pointed his finger at Sarkozy in approval.