Main focus of Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Ahmadinejad attacks the US

At the start of the UN Review Conference on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the US of threatening his country with nuclear weapons. Representatives from around 190 countries have been meeting since Monday to discuss ways of strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ahmadinejad is using the conference as a stage, commentators say, and call for instruments to combat the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Preventing the spread of nuclear weapons

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference must find new instruments in the struggle against the spread of nuclear weapons, writes the daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "Of the three pillars of the NPT - non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear technology - clearly it is the first that must be strengthened in New York. There is no shortage of ideas on how to do this. The UN's nuclear authority should be allowed to inspect suspicious installations without prior notice. Not all countries have accepted a corresponding amendment to the treaty, but it should be declared a global standard. Another thing in need of an overhaul is the Treaty's withdrawal clause. Those countries that turn their back on the NPT should not get off as lightly as North Korea, but must be held accountable for former violations. ... Over expectations are out of place here. ... As the decisions in New York will be taken in consensus by the 189 states that are party to the treaty, a good deal of diplomacy will be needed to avoid a total impasse." (04/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Crises / War, » U.S., » Global, » Iran
All available articles from » Andreas Rüesch

Iran's president uses UN conference as stage for his attacks

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has used the UN nuclear conference in New York to slam the United States. By publishing exact figures about its nuclear warheads the US offered Ahmadinejad a welcome target for his attacks, the left-liberal daily La Repubblica writes: "The timing and turn the UN conference has proven unfortunate for the US. The Americans had hoped that the international conference, where the power is not in their favour and which won't produce a condemnation of Iran, would take place after sanctions against Tehran had already been imposed. But owing to Russian and China's resistance to financial and economic details the negotiations on sanctions in which the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany are participating are making slow progress. This enabled Iranian President Ahmadinejad to use the UN conference as a stage without any fear of sanctions." (04/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Crises / War, » U.S., » Iran
All available articles from » Federico Rampini

US continues to focus on deterrence

The US has distanced itself from President Barack Obama's dream of a world without nuclear weapons - one which France never shared anyway, writes the daily Le Monde: "Since Obama announced his desire for a 'world without nuclear weapons' in April 2009, the French position has come in for considerable criticism. Anti-nuclear activists have reproached France for its sceptical attitude. Mr Sarkozy has repeatedly stated that abolition is a fairy tale, and has not hesitated to distance himself from Obama's ambitions. ... But while the differences of vocabulary are striking, in fact the basic disparities do not run that deep. Nicolas Sarkozy has rightly noted that the new American nuclear doctrine ... does not at all renounce the role of deterrence. In Washington as in Paris everyone admits that the conditions for eliminating global nuclear stockpiles are far from being met." (04/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Crises / War, » France, » U.S.

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