What would happen if a nuclear bomb were to go off in one of the world's largest cities? That was the horrifying scenario United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented to the world on Monday as 180 countries sat down to a one-month-long meeting in New York to review the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty -- a pact aimed at eventually making the globe nuclear-weapons free. Unsurprisingly, however, there are a number of different ideas as to how the nuclear disaster painted by Annan can be avoided, ranging from the renewed disarmament effort supported by a coalition of non-nuclear nations to the US preference to focus the conference on Iran and North Korea, both countries feared as potential new additions to the nuclear club. With the image of a flattened metropolis in the back of their minds, German commentators analyze the state of nuclear containment on Tuesday.

The center-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung is skeptical that the conference will result in any meaningful change. The treaty as it now stands, the paper writes, is like a three-legged stool built on the three goals of nuclear disarmament for those who already have the Bomb, making sure no further nations get the Bomb, and guaranteeing civilian atomic power for all countries. Yet "the problem is that the masters of the nonproliferation treaty don't agree on where the problem lies." The United States, the paper argues, deserves support for its goals of making it more difficult for countries (like North Korea) to exit the program and of limiting the right to developing nuclear power plants (read: Iran). But, "good treaties are legalized compromises. And in order to reach compromise, all sides have to give." In other words, if the US wants to take the lead, then it needs to stop making improvements to its own nuclear weapons arsenal in the form of mini-nukes and atomic strategies. "The outlook for such a compromise, however, is unfortunately grim. Too many have an interest in cutting legs off of the community stool."

Noting that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is one of the most successful treaties of all time, the conservative daily Die Welt -- as it often does -- sides with the United States in the debate over which direction to take the treaty. After all, the paper writes, despite the desirability of reducing nuclear arsenals worldwide, "the real danger to the nonproliferation treaty comes from those countries that break the rules, from the smuggling of nuclear technology and from terrorists who would love to get their hands on the Bomb." Indeed, if both Iran and North Korea obtain nuclear weapons, the treaty will likely fall apart, leading to "nuclear anarchy" the paper argues. "The future of this great treaty will not be decided in New York, but rather in Iran and North Korea."

Wrong, says the Financial Times Deutschland. The primary hindrance to a reform and improvement of the nonproliferation treaty can be found in Washington. "The stubborn, uncompromising position of Washington, in combination with its permanent breaching of the treaty, makes the necessary reforms more or less impossible." Specifically, the paper refers to the fact that the United States still has thousands of nuclear warheads in its arsenal and has refused to ratify a ban on nuclear testing -- facts that make non-nuclear nations less enthusiastic about living up to their own obligations under the treaty. "States like North Korea or Iran may force the international community to consider a new nonproliferation treaty. But the biggest hurdle on the way to that goal is the United States."