German Press:The Race Against the Bomb

German commentators on Wednesday give generally positive reviews to Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. The United States president must do even more to ensure the threat of terrorists or more countries getting their hands on nuclear weapons is reduced, but most agree he is off to a commendable start. On Tuesday, United States President Barack Obama led a meeting of 47 world leaders in Washington to discuss the potential threat of nuclear terrorism.

"We know that organizations like al-Qaida are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon -- a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using," Obama said on Monday. "This is something that could change the security landscape of this country and around the world for years to come."

Nations at the two-day Nuclear Security Summit committed to safeguard nuclear materials together in order to keep them from falling into terrorists' hands. In a joint statement issued at the end of the summit, the participating states called for highly enriched uranium and plutonium to be placed under better control within four years time. The security measures required would not limit the right of those states to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but it does call for the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) to be granted a stronger role in monitoring nuclear safety.

"This is a first, important step to react to new, so far unknown threats," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Two breakthroughs also took shape at the summit. On Monday, Washington claimed that China had agreed to join negotiations over a possible new package of sanctions against Iran, although Beijing didn't provide any concrete details on which measures it might support. And Ukraine said it would get rid of the nuclear bomb-making materials it inherited following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Although any commitments made by nations at the summit were nonbinding and voluntary, the meeting is seen as setting the stage for the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that will take place in New York in May.

Within the past week, the United States has signed a nuclear disarmament pact with Russia and narrowed the potential circumstances in which it would deploy nuclear weapons.

German commentators on Wednesday are hailing these developments as important initial steps that could make the arduous work in renewing NPT a little easier.

The center-right Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"Security experts are toeing a fine line: They must be aware of what transnational terrorists are plotting at all times, but they must also avoid becoming alarmist. Even 'educated' terrorists can't build a nuclear device without further assistance; and you can't just purchase the parts at your local hardware store. Nevertheless, that is what American experts ominously reported to the participants at Washington's nuclear summit on Tuesday. They claimed 'dozens' of terror groups, including al-Qaida, have attempted to purchase weapons of mass destruction, and 18 instances of lost or stolen plutonium and highly enriched uranium have been documented."

"Vigilance is necessary, and concerns about the secure storage of nuclear materials are justified. It is little wonder that attention is being paid to a country like Pakistan. But this isn't just about military facilities. Nuclear material earmarked for civilian use must also be fastidiously controlled -- and that is a global duty. If sensibilty to this matter was awoken, then the Washington summit has already fulfilled its first aim."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The primary security policy in the democracies of the West is risk prevention. ... If terrorists ever got hold of atomic weapons, the damage would be so immeasurable that any responsible leader would do everything possible to further minimize a risk that is already very low."

"The reaction to terrorism around the world -- and also in Germany -- has led to a situation in which basic freedoms have been limited in considerable ways. It's impossible to think of what would happen to our rights if a nuclear attack ever were to happen -- it wouldn't be the same again. Governments legitimize themselves by protecting their citizens. After a nuclear attack, the fine balance between safety and rights, which has already fallen somewhat out of balance, would quickly be lost. Indeed, it's no forgone conclusion that a Western democracy could survive such an attack."

"Many countries are careless in the way they store radioactive material. The German government should therefore gently push them to create the laws and inspections bodies and train the personnel needed to safeguard such materials. When the materials get lost, it is almost always attributable to sloppiness or inexperience."

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"The most decisive aspect yet (in getting the nuclear situation under control) is the goal set by the international community that they must bring all radioactive material under control within the next four years. That would require an needed, but difficult to achieve, enhancement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A few countries have shown good will -- Canada and Ukraine, for example. Kiev wants to eliminate its stocks of highly enriched uranium -- and will probably sell them as fuel. Ottawa, meanwhile, wants to return used fuel rods to the United States. So far, so good, but that's not the root of the problem. The nuclear threat posed by al-Qaida -- whose fighters have done little spectacular since 9/11 -- is smaller than the chance that rogue states like Iran, North Korea or Syria, who all cooperate on nuclear issues, will conduct their foreign policy with a bomb, blackmail their neighbors and undermine any deterrent. Meanwhile, it has so far proven impossible to convince Russia and China to take any drastic actions. After all, they do not want to see their nuclear status weakened by less powers."

"The remaining suspects -- Syria, Iran and North Korea -- weren't even invited to the party. And neither Global Zero, nor a Nobel Peace Prize or any resolutions will impress them. Whats decisive is that the US will not be alone in thinking about nucelar emergencies -- and how to prevent them."

The daily Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"After the conference this week, the most important and difficult part will follow in New York in May: The review of the the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The talks there will be broadened to include the outdated NPT, which is to be revived in an attempt to steer the world towards nuclear disarmament. The advance work done by Obama could help to make these pressing problems a little easier to solve."

"Each new nuclear power increases the threat felt by their neighbors and the threat of an arms race. India and Pakistan, both enemies and major powers, are the classic example of this logic. Iran, which is now seeking to develop its ability to enrich uranium, could be the next. Once Tehran is capable of enriching uranium, it will already have the bomb for all intents and purposes. And that's where the importance lies in the dispute with Iran. Tehran's signature on the NPT has not been enough to ensure the country will not build a nuclear bomb. North Korea, for its part, has shown how one can obtain the technology under the protective auspices of NPT to secure the technology needed, then exit the treaty and take the final steps to build a bomb. It's not without reason that Egypt is now getting close to the starting point of establishing its own civilian nuclear industry."

"NPT's framework must be thoroughly revised, and the rules for dealing with radioative material need to be tightened. One idea envisions internationalizing the enrichment process so that no country that does not already possess nuclear weapons will have the key element needed to construct their own bomb. Another calls for giving the IAEA greater inspection rights. This entails curbing the rights of non-nuclear powers, which only has a chance of succeeding if the nuclear powers get serious about meeting their disarmament obligations."

"For those reasons the new START treaty between the US and Russia, the US's new nuclear doctrine and Obama's disarmament rehtoric are crucial advance work for the actual masterwork, the reform of NPT. The reform of this treaty is absolutely essential because it is foreseable that power-hungry regional powers like Iran could trigger a nuclear arms race in our multi-polar world."