The United States and Poland will be holding further talks soon on the potential stationing of U.S. troops and a Patriot air defense battery in Polish territory, said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Sept. 23. Warsaw can be expected to be rife with such talk in the coming weeks in the wake of Washington's recent reversal of plans for a fixed ballistic missile defense installation on Polish soil. But the United States is still considering its options for reinforcing Poland with Patriot missiles and other defense hardware — especially in the long run. This is no casual or coincidental matter, but has its roots in Poland's location on the map. The territory that Poland occupies on the North European Plain is of pivotal geographic importance.