President Obama Outlines Nuclear Arms Reduction in Landmark Speech In Germany

Fifty years after JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner) declaration in defiance of the Cold War, another US President made a landmark speech at the German capital. President Barack Obama unveiled nuclear arms reduction plans at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany on Wednesday. The President repeated JFK”s famous phrase amidst cheers of approval from the crowd.

Aside from the announcement of plans concerning key reductions of deployed American and Russian Cold War nuclear warheads, the President also called for renewed efforts to address climate change issues.

Symbolic gesture

This is the President’s first speech in Berlin as head of state. Obama’s last address to an audience at the capital was nearly five years ago when he was a presidential candidate. He came to Berlin after the two-day G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

President Obama called on to Berliners to manifest that same resiliency that contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall in confronting the challenges of today. He stressed that as long as nuclear weapons are in existence, “we are not truly safe.” President Obama made the most of the opportunity to summon the legacy and significance of the Brandenburg Gate in order to bring attention to urgent and relevant issues of today. He faced towards the East when he delivered his address.

The Brandenburg Gate

The historic Brandenburg Gate once stood alongside the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany. This landmark served as the symbol of a divided Germany and the Cold War. When the Wall came down, it became the symbol of reunification as well. In 2008, then presidential candidate Barack Obama was denied by the Chancellor the opportunity of addressing an audience on that venue. Only sitting presidents were given the honor according to Chancellor Merkel.

Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Adviser of the Obama administration said in a statement made prior to the speech that the Brandenburg venue is a place where American presidents speak about the free world. President Ronald Reagan also delivered a landmark speech at the venue in 1987 when he called out to the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall,

Another step forward on the “New START” treaty

President Obama said that he was intent on moving “beyond Cold War nuclear postures” by proposing a one-third reduction of nuclear warheads each for Russia and the United States to around 1,000 warheads per country. By seeking negotiations with Russia, he said that the “security of America and our allies” will then be assured.

It is now two years after the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction) Treaty went into effect. The goal of the treaty is to limit US and Russian warheads to 1,550 by 2018.

Renewed commitment

The content of President Obama’s speech on Wednesday ensured that at the center of his foreign policy is the nuclear counterproliferation agenda, the seeds of which were planted in his first term in office with the Strategic Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia. President Obama also clarified that they would be working with NATO allies for “bold reductions” in tactical weapons in the European continent as well.

Photo Credit: Brandenburg Gate