Obama und die Atomwaffen (2)

Steffi Loos/commonlens.de
Steffi Loos/commonlens.de

Wie angekündigt, hat US-Präsident Barack Obama bei seiner Rede vor dem Brandenburger Tor in Berlin am (heutigen) Mittwoch auch eine neue Initiative zur Reduzierung der Atomwaffen gestartet: Die USA wollten sich um eine Reduzierung ihrer stationierten strategischen Nuklearwaffen um ein Drittel bemühen. Für die taktischen – oder besser: sub-strategischen – Atomwaffen, dazu gehören sicherlich auch die in der Bundesrepublik stationierten Nuklearsprengköpfe, sollten Gespräche mit den NATO-Verbündeten und Russland begonnen werden, um auch dort eine deutliche Verringerung zu erreichen.

Die Passage in Obamas Rede, nach einem Transkript des Weißen Hauses:

Peace with justice means pursuing the security of a world without nuclear weapons — no matter how distant that dream may be. And so, as President, I’ve strengthened our efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and reduced the number and role of America’s nuclear weapons. Because of the New START Treaty, we’re on track to cut American and Russian deployed nuclear warheads to their lowest levels since the 1950s. (Applause.)
But we have more work to do. So today, I’m announcing additional steps forward. After a comprehensive review, I’ve determined that we can ensure the security of America and our allies, and maintain a strong and credible strategic deterrent, while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one-third. And I intend to seek negotiated cuts with Russia to move beyond Cold War nuclear postures. (Applause.)
At the same time, we’ll work with our NATO allies to seek bold reductions in U.S. and Russian tactical weapons in Europe. And we can forge a new international framework for peaceful nuclear power, and reject the nuclear weaponization that North Korea and Iran may be seeking.
America will host a summit in 2016 to continue our efforts to secure nuclear materials around the world, and we will work to build support in the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and call on all nations to begin negotiations on a treaty that ends the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. These are steps we can take to create a world of peace with justice. (Applause.)

Der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin, mit dem sich Obama beim G8-Gipfel in Nordirland in den Vortagen getroffen hatte, hatte bereits gestern zu den US-Absichten Stellung genommen. Aus seiner Pressekonferenz (Abschrift und Übersetzung des Kreml):

QUESTION: Mr President, during this G8 summit, the press focused a great deal of attention on your talks with US President Barack Obama. We awaited yesterday’s event for quite a long time.
After exchanging messages, did the question of ballistic missile defence come up and were you able to achieve any headway in this area?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, we discussed this topic at length yesterday, and had an overall discussion on the difficulties of disarmament, the missile defence system and our potential cooperation along these lines. I must say that we still have some disagreements, but overall, I agree with President Obama that the most important thing we must do and which we certainly can do in this direction is to increase our openness, the transparency of all our actions. My understanding is that the President of the United States is prepared to broaden the framework of transparency. We will continue this discussion during his visit to Russia ahead of the G20 summit. We agreed that the meeting would be held in Moscow and then we will travel together to St Petersburg to meet with our colleagues within the G20 framework. But again, we discussed this topic at length and there were certain positive elements in yesterday’s discussion.

Auf die Absichten der USA und der NATO für eine Raketenabwehr ging Putin heute bei Beratungen über das künftige russische Rüstungsprogramm ein (ebenfalls Abschrift/Übersetzung des Kreml):

We are here today to discuss overall implementation of one of the key areas of the state arms procurement programme through to 2020, namely, re-equipping the country’s air and space defence forces. We all realise that today’s needs dictate that we pay particular attention to this area.
We see that work is active around the world on developing high-precision conventional weapons systems that in their strike capabilities come close to strategic nuclear weapons. Countries that have such weapons substantially increase their offensive capability.
We know too, that the United States is continuing work on its strategic missile defence system. This project is undergoing some reconfiguration in terms of time and geography, and we see and welcome these steps our American partners are taking.
But at the same time, no one has renounced the programme and it is still going ahead. The question is only one of time: which components of the missile defence system will be deployed and when.
Furthermore, there has been increasing talk among military analysts about the theoretical possibility of a first disarming, disabling strike, even against nuclear powers. This is something that we also need to take into account in our plans for developing the armed forces.
Finally, not only the United States but other countries too are working actively on improving their offensive weapons systems, including medium-range missiles. Nearly all of our neighbours are developing these kinds of weapons systems.

Unterm Strich vor allem eine Auseinandersetzung auf dem Feld der Supermächte (sofern man weiterhin von zwei Supermächten sprechen will – bei der nuklearen Bewaffnung dürfte das zutreffen).

Aus deutscher praktischer Sicht wird Obamas Ankündigung interessant, über eine deutliche Reduzierung der taktischen Atomwaffen zu sprechen: At the same time, we’ll work with our NATO allies to seek bold reductions in U.S. and Russian tactical weapons in Europe. Ein Abzug der US-Atomwaffen aus Deutschland hätte zum Beispiel auf die Bundeswehr Auswirkungen – die so genannte nukleare Teilhabe, bei der deutsche Tornado-Kampfjets für den Einsatz der von US-Truppen kontrollierten Sonderwaffen bereit stehen, findet sich ja auch in der Struktur der Luftwaffe wieder.

Nachtrag: Interessante Analyse dazu.