US President Obama departs enroute to Prague
(8 Apr 2010) SHOTLIST 1. Helicopter with US President Barack Obama preparing to land 2. Helicopter taxiing 3. Pull out of helicopter 4. Obama emerging from helicopter 5. Obama running up steps of US Air Force One, turns and waves 6. Wide of Air Force One 7. Officers saluting as plane taxis away 8. Wide of plane taxiing 9. Air Force One taking off 10. Air Force One airborne STORYLINE US President Barack Obama left Washington on Wednesday night, heading for the Czech capital Prague to sign a new arms-reduction treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Obama arrived at Andrews Air Force Base by helicopter, transferring to the Air Force One for the flight to a signing ceremony described as his first major step in his push toward a nuclear-free world. The deal with Russia reduces both countries'' nuclear arsenals but is also seen as giving Obama a chance to repair relations with Moscow and pursue more dramatic cuts in global nuclear weapon stockpiles. Obama has not been able to deliver on all of the nuclear aspirations he outlined in Prague just a year ago - visions on disarmament that helped earn him the Nobel Peace Prize. Back then, a landmark speech to an enthusiastic crowd gathered in a Prague square included a promise to quickly seek ratification of a comprehensive nuclear test ban. That goal remains unfulfilled. But on Thursday, the Czech capital will serve as the venue of a pledge achieved. At noon in the Spanish Hall - a lavish Renaissance chamber within the Czech''s capital''s ornate presidential castle complex - the US and Russian presidents will sign the "New START" treaty. With that, they will commit their nations to slash the number of strategic nuclear warheads by one-third and more than halve the number of missiles, submarines and bombers carrying them, pending ratification by their legislatures. The new treaty will shrink those warheads to 1,550 over seven years. That still allows for mutual destruction several times over. But it will send a strong signal that Russia and the US, which between them own more than 90 percent of the world''s nuclear weapons, are serious about disarmament. The deep cuts in warheads and delivery systems and a legally binding system to ensure against cheating, makes "New START" the most significant nuclear arms treaty in a generation, and Medvedev, in comments published before the signing lauded it as "an important step" in disarmament and arms control efforts. The agreement follows disputes between Washington and Moscow over US missile defence plans, Moscow''s 2008 invasion of Georgia and NATO''s expansion to the Russian borders. The Prague trip is sandwiched in between two other significant nuclear events which have had the President focusing almost exclusively on weapons security for the better part of a week. On Tuesday, Washington released the results of a comprehensive nuclear strategy review that described the spread of atomic weapons to rogue states or militants as a worse threat than Cold War fears of nuclear Armageddon. Then next week, Obama welcomes to Washington the leaders of 46 nations for a two-day summit, the largest in the United States since the 1940s, on locking down nuclear material that could fall into the hands of militants. Prague, the choice for Obama''s seminal nuclear weapons-free world speech last year, also is the capital of a former Soviet satellite and now-NATO member, part of the former Czechoslovakia where the 1989 Velvet Revolution was one of the few peaceful overthrows of communism behind the Iron Curtain. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
