Cool…

PRAGUE, Czech Republic—U.S. plans to extend its ‘’star wars’’ missile-defense program to Europe, which once dismissed the technology as unproven and unneeded, are gaining acceptance among governments here.

Despite Russia’s mounting opposition, the Czech Republic, Poland, and—as of Friday—Britain have all expressed serious interest in hosting parts of the shield. Other countries traditionally cool to the idea have been notably quiet. The trigger: concern about a nuclear Iran.

‘’This is all a result of Iran,’’ says Tim Williams, a European security analyst. ‘’Governments see that Iranian missiles can hit Europe, and suddenly they are very worried about the threat from ballistic missiles.’’

It’s nice to see some progress on this issue, though Britain and Poland have been the most cooperative European allies on this sort of thing anyway, but you’d think these folks would be more concerned about doing some proactive to stop Iran from going nuclear rather than just looking for a way to play defense.  After all, the threat of an Iranian nuke lays not just with one delivered by a missile but also one delivered by a suicider from some terrorist organization.

Which is hardly something the Star Wars missile shield is going to stop.