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Germany Fears New Atomic Age
UPI Germany Correspondent Berlin (UPI) June 14, 2007 Germany's security experts are convinced that the world is heading for a new and "more dangerous" atomic age as international conflicts take on further heat. Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip, the unresolved nuclear conflict with Iran, surging military spending and ongoing proliferation are just a few things that have Germany's peace and security experts concerned. "Relentlessly, the major nuclear powers modernize their arsenals and thus undermine the non-proliferation regime and egg on dictators to protect themselves from forced-upon regime changes with nuclear weapons. The Iraq war has supported that notion," Bruno Schoch of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt said Thursday in Berlin at the official presentation of the Peace Report 2007, which looks at international conflicts around the world and is compiled by Germany's five peace research institutes. "The world has entered a renewed and more dangerous atomic age." To defuse tensions over U.S. plans for a missile interceptor system in Eastern Europe and because both players are affected, the issue should be discussed "within NATO and the European Union," the experts concluded. The nuclear conflict with Iran, mentioned already in the past two peace reports, is far from resolved. As sanctions and rhetorical threats haven't managed to convince Tehran to give up its enrichment program, the international community should talk to Iran about "security guarantees, steps to a nuclear weapons-free zone and a multilateralization of its uranium enrichment program," the experts proposed. However, earlier cooperation offers have been denied by Tehran (Moscow last year proposed that Iran could enrich uranium on Russian soil), and some experts believe the leadership in Tehran is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb, no matter the security guarantees given by Washington. "Why should Iran trust the United States? If I were in Iran's position, I wouldn't," Charles Pena, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute and former director of defense policy studies at the Cato Institute, said Thursday at the German Council on Foreign Relations, a Berlin-based think tank. Pena noted that Iran understandably sees a nuclear warhead as a security guarantee against a regime change forced upon it by the United States. In Iran's broad neighborhood lies Israel, the Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip, where violence has been escalating in the past few days to a point where observers use the term "civil war" and herald the looming failure of the peace process. Jochen Hippler of the Institute for Development and Peace at Duisburg-Essen University said the United States and the European Union carry partial responsibility for the unfolding tragedy. "You can't call for democratic elections and then don't recognize the winner of those elections," he said. The experts urged the European Union to speak to Hamas + at least to its moderate members. Europe and the United States have said they would not talk to Hamas until it renounces violence, accepts Israel's right to exist and supports the international "road map" to peace, which now looks in severe jeopardy. Besides international conflicts, the report also analyzes Germany's evolving security position. Since 1994 the country's foreign missions have drastically increased, with roughly 8,000 German troops currently involved in NATO, EU and U.N.-led missions. Germany is one of the biggest contributors to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and the U.N.-led stability mission UNIFIL in Lebanon. "What (the German army) must or should do + and what not + remains in the dark," Schoch said. The report thus urged Germany to develop a set of criteria to be attached to further military missions. They should:
+ be in accordance with the U.N. charter. The experts said most of these evaluations were absent when Germany launched its mission in Afghanistan, where some 3,000 troops lead ISAF's reconstruction efforts in the northern parts of Afghanistan. Berlin should return to the core purpose of the mandate, which is supporting the Afghan state and not U.S.-led military interventions, the experts said. "Security may be key for reconstruction, but hearts and minds can't be won with the military," Schoch said. "And the relations are faulty if the German troops in Afghanistan cost some 450 million euros ($600 million) a year but ... only 100 million euros ($133 million) are spent on civil reconstruction and police."
Source: United Press International Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Peace Research Institute Frankfurt Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
US Says Nothing To Fear From New Nuclear Warheads As Shields Go Up
Washington (AFP) June 14, 2007The United States Thursday defended plans to overhaul its sea-based nuclear arsenal with a new generation of warheads, arguing the program did not pose any extra threat to nations like Russia. The administration wants to replace much of its Cold War stockpile with a new "Reliable Replacement Warhead" (RRW) that it argues would be safer and cheaper to maintain over the coming decades. |
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