Orkhan Sattarov, head of European office of Vestnik Kavkaza
From early morning on June 19, traffic in downtown Berlin was paralyzed, and dozens of police cars blocked streets: more than seven thousand German policemen together with the U.S. intelligence agencies in the 34-degree heat took unprecedented measures in the German capital for the security of U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Berlin .
In Germany, Obama had been expected for a long time: a lot of questions have been accumulated on the bilateral agenda, and the discrepancy in the views of the American president with Chancellor Angela Merkel - especially in terms of the ways out of the crisis – is discussed by everyone. Barack Obama is inclined to support socialists who want to create conditions to stimulate the growth of European economies, while Merkel in her anti-crisis strategy focuses on the restructuring of budgets and rigid policy of savings. During a joint news conference with Angela Merkel, Obama once again made reference to the need to stimulate economic growth - overt dig at Merkel, according to observers.
The information on the program by U.S. intelligence of surveillance on the Internet called Prism has also alarmed the German society. Obama tried to reassure the worried Germans (in Germany, the news was perceived much more painfully than in the U.S.) that its use does not lead to a total surveillance of network users. However, the German Chancellor did not look convinced by her American counterpart and noted the need for the program only within the strict necessity.
The American president, while in Germany, tried not to deprive anyone of attention. He met with the president of the Federal Republic of Germany Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel, but did not forget to give a 40-minute meeting to the main rival of the German "Iron Lady" in the upcoming October elections to the Bundestag, the socialist candidate Peer Steinbrueck.
Perhaps the only sensational moment in Obama's speech at the Pariser Platz near the Brandenburg Gate was his proposal to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal by one-third, naturally, with the condition that Russia does the same. Selecting a location for such an initiative is quite successful: right behind him the Berlin Wall once ran, one of the last remaining symbols of the Cold War.
The American president, regularly appealing to concepts such as freedom, security and solidarity, assured the Germans that the trans-Atlantic relationship with Europe built on these values will only get stronger, and talks about the fact that it is in crisis are lies. The U.S. president has strong oratorical abilities. Obama said what he was expected to say in Germany: he said that it is necessary to make greater efforts to combat global warming, that Guantanamo will be closed, and he even mentioned the need to provide equal opportunities to his "gay friends." But, as it was noted in Germany, there was little specifics in Obama's speech, and it left many people indifferent.
Overall, Obama's speech in Berlin was not historical, such as, for example, the Berlin speeches by Kennedy and Reagan. According to the German media with their headlines on the front page on Obama's visit, U.S. journalists almost did not pay any attention to it. For example, the New York Times devoted only half a line on the first page to this visit, Die Welt disappointedly reports.
