Romney and Obama clash over Poland and reviving Cold War rhetoric

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney (L) and US President Barack Obama pass one another after the final presidential debate in the Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida: photo - EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS/

“We have to also stand by our allies,” Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in the debate in Florida, which concentrated this time on foreign policy issues.

“I think the tension that existed between Israel and the United States was very unfortunate. I think also that pulling our missile defense program out of Poland in the way did we was also unfortunate in terms of, if you will, disrupting the relationship in some ways that existed between us," Romney said.

The Republican, who visited Poland late July this year, was referring to the plan by the previous Bush administration to site an anti-missile shield system in Poland with radar in the Czech Republic – a system President Obama scrapped when entering the White House four years ago.

Obama wants a new, more mobile defence system to take its place, which will include elements based in Poland by 2018.

With opinion polls showing the two candidates running neck and neck with just 14 days left to go before polling day, Barack Obama lashed out at Romney for having once claimed that Russia was 'the biggest geopolitical threat' to America.

'The 1980s are calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War's been over for 20 years,' President Obama said.

The two candidates also clashed over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons ambitions and trade with China.

This was the third and last debate between the two, with foreign policy coming down the list of election issues this time, as the economy dominates the minds of voters.
Most obsevers are calling the last debate a draw, with Romney winning the first debate and Obama recovering in the second. (pg)