The United States has about 180 B61 gravity nuclear bombs based in Europe. They are the detritus of the cold war, tactical weapons deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey to protect NATO allies from the once-feared Soviet advantage in conventional arms. But the cold war is long over, and no American military commander can conceive of their ever being used. Even so, President Obama has put $537 million in his 2014 budget proposal to upgrade these bombs. When all is said and done, experts say, the cost of the rebuilding program is expected to total around $10 billion — $4 billion more than an earlier projection — and yield an estimated 400 weapons, fitted with new guided tail kits so that they are more reliable and accurate than the current ones.

This is a nonsensical decision, not least because it is at odds with Obama’s own vision. In a seminal speech in Prague in 2009 and a strategy review in 2010, Obama advocated the long-term goal of a world without nuclear arms and promised to reduce America’s reliance on them. He also promised not to field a new and improved warhead.

But the B61 upgrade would significantly increase America’s tactical nuclear capability and send the wrong signal while Obama is trying to draw Russia into a new round of nuclear reduction talks that are supposedly aimed at cutting tactical, as well as strategic, arsenals.

In addition to overspending on warheads, Obama has cut the Global Threat Reduction Initiative program, which reduces and protects from terrorism vulnerable nuclear material at sites worldwide, by 15 percent from 2013 levels. His budget is being rewritten by Congress, but in the nuclear area it is a disappointing, and befuddling, measure of his priorities.

— New York Times

The African Union summit in Ethiopia had something to cheer for. Brazil, the world’s seventh largest economy, surprised all by announcing it would write off the entire debt of the African continent to the tune of $900 million.

This is genuine leadership and state-of-art diplomacy, to say the least . . . The decision announced by Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff will benefit around 12 trading nations of Africa, including Congo, Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Sudan. These poor African countries, which sit on the treasures of minerals but are unable to exploit them fully because of poor infrastructure and political instability, could hope for a shot in the arm as their outstanding debts are canceled or restructured.

Brazil’s move, nonetheless, has come at an opportune time when the continent’s league, the African Union, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. African leaders as well as world financial pundits strongly believe that the continent has come a long way in resurrecting its image as a developing icon, and made great strides in undoing poverty and freeing itself from deadly diseases to a great extent. The success against AIDS, with the help of Western countries and especially the UN’s World Health Organization, is a case in point.

Brasilia’s precedent should be emulated by other rich nations in the West. It is worth recalling that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were asked at the height of monetary crisis in Africa and Asia to write off bad debts, and rejuvenate the respective economies with fresh loans. But that prescription fell on deaf ears. The outcome was another vicious circle of abject poverty and stagnation. Bailing out Africa from its non-performing loans could be the way to begin with.

— Khaleej Times, Dubai