The worst arms control dispute of the post-Cold War era is taking shape as Poland and the Czech Republic have displayed their willingness to host facilities for the Pentagon's missile defense shield.

Moscow has angrily opposed deployment of the missile shield in nearby countries in Central Europe. Russia insists it is the real target of the Pentagon program, not Iran as claimed by the project's supporters.

The plan is to site large silos in Poland holding 10 interceptor rockets which are to be fired into space to meet and destroy inter-continental ballistic missiles fired at the U.S. The radar detection system would be sited in the Czech Republic.

Most European states have also been reluctant to say whether they think Europe needs such a missile shield. According to Reuters, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday the level of threat to European territory was "questionable" and it was up to individual countries to decide what they wanted to do.

A recent opinion poll has shown that nearly two-thirds of Czechs oppose hosting the radar system, the Washington Times reported on Friday. We could expect a similar result if an opinion poll were held across Europe.

The project looks certain to trigger a fierce dispute within Europe over the strategic sense and purpose of the missile shield and its impact on relations with Russia.

Germany has denounced the U.S. moves as potentially destabilizing. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has criticized the project. "Experts will have to determine whether this system makes military sense," he told the German business newspaper Handelsblatt. "But I am pleading for a careful approach and intensive dialogue with all partners affected whether directly or indirectly… one should have talked sooner with the Russians as the deployment sites are close to Russia's borders."

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung also criticized the plan, suggesting the project could jeopardize "our security interests".

The German broadside laid bare the frictions within NATO over the project. The Poles and the Czechs argue that their participation will enhance European and NATO members' security. Steinmeier pointedly noted that the program was purely American and agreed with the Kremlin that the alleged target of the shield, Iran, did not have the missile prowess to threaten either Europe or America.

Berlin is very concerned about the project because Germany suffered more than any other country in Europe during the Cold War. Germany also partially owes its unification to the Soviet Union, which decided to end the Cold War after nearly half a century. Germany, which has Europe’s largest economy and is seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, does not want the shadow of the U.S. looming over Europe perpetually.

Moscow, which is threatening to reopen a landmark Cold War treaty that eliminated medium-range missiles in Europe, has said it could retaliate by training its strategic missiles on Poland and the Czech Republic.

"If the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic take such a step, the strategic missile forces will be capable of targeting these facilities," General Nikolai Solovtsov, Russia's strategic missiles commander, said in a press conference. Russia's Air Force commander, General Vladimir Mikhailov, had also said Moscow had its own missile shield and need not worry. "We have everything needed to adequately respond to all these deployments."

Former Slovak prime minister Jan Carnogursky has also warned about the deployment. "The deployment of (missile) bases in the Czech Republic and Poland means that NATO military installations will move closer to the borders with Russia in violation of a verbal promise made by the United States to (ex-Soviet president) Gorbachev at talks ending the Cold War," RIA Novosti quoted Carnogursky as saying.

Despite all the overtures since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia still apprehensively view each other as potential enemies.

Washington sees Moscow as a long-dormant lion which is suddenly awaking and posing a serious challenge to U.S. hegemony.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians felt a loss of pride and status, but now Moscow is trying to reassert itself as a rival to the United States. For the first time, Russian arms exports exceeded those of the U.S. in 2006. Russia is also feeling proud as the revenues it is gaining from high oil prices have turned a hungry and indebted Russia into a wealthy country which sits on large energy resources and controls its imports to Europe.

Russia and the U.S. have been in a mild cold war ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the plan to deploy missiles on European soil is heating up this mild cold war.