US PRESIDENT Barack Obama called for “serious dialogue” with Iran to prevent a “nuclear arms race in the Middle East” after talks with chancellor Angela Merkel in Dresden yesterday.
Dr Merkel promised a “constructive German contribution” to Middle East peace talks and praised Mr Obama’s Cairo speech as a “door-opener” to the Arab world. Mr Obama said he was confident that his administration’s daily engagement in the Middle East had put an end to both sides “getting dug in and so cynical”.
“The moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, that each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises,” said Mr Obama. “I am confident that if we stick with it, having started early, we can make some serious progress this year.”
In a short visit packed with symbolism, the two leaders held talks in Dresden’s spectacular Green Vault treasure chamber, home to the Saxon royal family’s crown jewels. Then cameras followed the two into the Church of Our Lady, reconstructed from a blackened ruin after the Dresden bombing of 1945, and reopened in 2005.
“Dresden has again turned out to be a jewel of German culture,” said Dr Merkel, “and the people here are so glad that you’ve come to see them because it shows that you also pay tribute to the tremendous efforts they made in those 20 years after the fall of the wall.”
The images of the visit were an antidote to days of speculation in Germany on whether Mr Obama’s stopover on his way to D-Day ceremonies in France was to be interpreted as an honour or a diplomatic slight. After claims in the German media that the Obama White House views Dr Merkel as “difficult”, the president went to great lengths in a joint press conference to praise Germany as a “close friend and critical partner”.
“It’s a great pleasure to be with my friend once again,” he said, turning to Dr Merkel, “whom I always seek out for intelligent analysis and straight talking.”
He also smoothed out tensions over the rescue of General Motors subsidiary Opel, now in German state ownership, that went down to the wire last week. “It’s not easy to help auto companies restructure and it’s not always popular,” he said. “I’m hopeful that . . . we [are] going to see these companies stabilise and emerge even stronger and more competitive in the international marketplace.”
The two leaders later visited the former concentration camp of Buchenwald, liberated in 1945 by US soldiers, including Mr Obama’s great-uncle, Charlie Payne. “I was horrified by the lengths to which men will go to mistreat other men,” Mr Payne (84) told Der Spiegel magazine. “This was, to me, almost unbelievable.”
Mr Payne was circumspect about Mr Obama’s visit to the camp, saying they had never talked about his experiences in Nazi Germany. “This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I’m sure, but for political reasons.”
He said Mr Obama might be trying to improve his “standing” with Dr Merkel, since “she gave him a hard time during his campaign”. Dr Merkel had prevented him from staging a Berlin campaign rally in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Mr Obama said the visit to Buchenwald was one of reflection but also of celebration.
It was a chance “to reflect on the dangers of when peoples are in conflict and not acknowledging a common humanity, but also to celebrate how out of that tragedy you now have a unified Europe, a Germany that is a very close ally of Israel and the possibilities of reconciliation and forgiveness and hope.”
