In Berlin, Obama to Call for Reduction in Nuclear Arms
President Barack Obama is expected to use his speech at the iconic Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday to renew calls for a reduction in nuclear weapons.
It is not the first time the president has called for a reduction in stockpiles, but by addressing the issue in a major foreign speech, Obama is hoping to rekindle the issue, which was at the center of his early first-term agenda.
Obama will address a crowd of 5,000 invited guests at the historic landmark in the center of Berlin almost 50 years after John F. Kennedy made his famous speech at what was then West Berlin at the Rathaus Schoeneberg (town hall). Obama made a speech as a presidential candidate in the city in 2008.
But Berliners say they are less excited about this visit and have been disappointed that he has not delivered on promises he made previously.
“He’s still better than George W. Bush in terms of being open to the rest of the world and cooperation, but this vast change of the mindset in America, I don’t think we’ve seen,” said Elizabeth Osterloh, an American living in Berlin and doing an MBA in transatlantic management.
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