Main focus of Friday, April 9, 2010

A new start for Russia and the US

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed a new Start Treaty on the disarmament of nuclear weapons. The agreement is a positive signal but will hardly make the world a safer place, writes Europe's press.

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland

No matter how laudable US President Barack Obama's will for disarmament is, the danger of a nuclear attack remains extremely high, writes the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza: "Obama's idea of a world without nuclear weapons is all very well and good, but it's unrealistic. Obama himself has said as much, incidentally, admitting that it should be seen as a goal for the world to strive for, but one it will hardly achieve. There will always be states that possess nuclear weapons. To prevent North Korea from building a nuclear arsenal, for example, one would have to topple the regime. But it's senseless to weigh up the pros and cons of such a recourse to violence because such a scenario is totally unrealistic. ... The world should brace itself. Accidentally or intentionally, someone, somewhere is going to deploy a nuclear weapon, or at least a so-called dirty bomb." (09/04/2010)

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Lidové noviny - Czech Republic

The disarmament treaty signed by the US and Russian presidents doesn't go far enough, writes the conservative daily Lidové noviny: "Twenty years after the end of the Cold War an agreement between the US and Russia that deals merely with their own nuclear weapons is too little. Their common interests should also lead to a common approach to other threats such as that from Iran. But that is not the case. ... The two countries are now announcing that maintaining nuclear arsenals is an expensive hobby. But what they're liquidating is not just scrap. Without the treaty, the Russian 'scrap' could easily find its way into truly dangerous hands, which would only exacerbate the worries of the Kremlin and the White House." (09/04/2010)

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De Morgen - Belgium

The Start treaty points to a new geopolitical course, writes the daily De Morgen commenting on the signing of the agreement in Prague: "The signal was given in ... the very region of the world where the US wanted to set up the missile shield so fiercely criticised by Russia. It is significant that this dispute did not stand in the way of the signing in Prague. If this also means that Obama has managed to bring Moscow to take a tougher stance on Iran and its crazy nuclear ambitions this could be more important geopolitically than reducing the number of nuclear warheads. The weakling of Prague's nuclear spring is once again the European Union. ... A reformed Europe with a voice? It seems Obama is simply not interested. So we are confronted with the image of a new US leadership that no longer acts with the mindless unilateralism of days gone by, nor necessarily turns to us first in its search for allies." (09/04/2010)

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Corriere del Ticino - Switzerland

The new Start treaty between the US and Russia is based on nothing but pragmatism, writes the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino: "The treaty signed yesterday in Prague has reduced the last remaining traces of the Cold War between the US and Russia to a minimum. ... It is for the main part a resetting of goals which in times of economic crisis is equally beneficial for Washington and Moscow. ... Even if the Prague agreement can in any way be described as historical ... it is not a comprehensive or one hundred percent reliable treaty. ... On the Russian side Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has already threatened to cancel the Start treaty if a boosting of the US's strategic missile defence potential [in Eastern Europe] weakens the effectiveness of Russia's strategic forces in any way." (09/04/2010)

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