I dream of a nuclear weapon-free world: Barack Obama

NO HARMS RACE: US Democratic Senator Barack Obama speaks at Berlin�s historic Victory Column.

Other stories in the section:

India N-chants Vienna, next stop Washington

There is stiff opposition for the Indo-US deal from a small quarter in the US.

• Zardari wins Pak Prez polls | Profile: 'Mr 10 per cent'

• Obama says winning Pennsylvania is the key

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Tale of Two Azmis

Featured Slideshows

Related Headlines

powered by

• Around the world, much is expected of Barack Obama
• Pak building a new nuclear reactor
• 30 nations may have N-weapons soon

Keywords: Arms Race, Berlin

New Delhi: US Presidential candidate Barack Obama while on his tour to Germany subtly attacked Iran, asking world leaders to put a check on proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Thousands of people turned out at Berlin’s historic Victory Column to hear the Democratic Senator speak.

“This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close, too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love,” Obama said in the packed Tiergarten, a heavily wooded park in central Berlin.

“With that wall gone,” he added, “we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials, to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.’

Though not specifically a campaign speech, Obama did call for renewed European support in the war in Afghanistan, where US and NATO troops face an increasingly violent battle with the Taliban.

And even though the Germans were floored with Obama’s speech, his political rival Republican Senator John McCain wasn’t impressed.

“Well I'd love to give a speech in Germany too, a political speech or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in, but I'd much prefer to do it as the President of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of presidency,” McCain said.

The US has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. Obama's anti-nuclear weapons pitch is thus aimed at drumming up support for US foreign policy objectives in West Asia and Afghanistan.

(With CNN inputs)