Obama, Medvedev happy on arms pact, signing seen near

[grantcart]

Source: Reuters

Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama are satisfied with the "high level of consensus" on a new pact to cut nuclear arms and it is now possible to talk of a firm date for signing a treaty, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

Russia and the United States have been negotiating for nearly a year a new treaty to reduce their arsenals of nuclear weapons. The pact is a cornerstone of Washington's efforts to improve relations with Moscow.

Obama and Medvedev held a regular telephone conversation on Saturday and "expressed satisfaction with the high level of consensus on the basic lines of the project of the treaty," the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

It was "underlined that already now it was possible to talk about concrete dates for presenting the (arms treaty) for signing by the heads of states," the statement added. It did not give any date.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said Obama and Medvedev had a "good conversation," reviewing progress in negotiations thus far. "Both leaders are committed to concluding an agreement soon," said Mike Hammer, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62C1GK20100314?type=politicsNews%3FfeedType%3DRSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Politics+News%29

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As far removed from the confrontational/macho/jingoism of Bush/Cheney as you can get.

Will have wide ranging impact on reducing nuclear weapons, stopping missle construction in Europe, gaining united front with Iran and North Korea.

Quietly working on the issues that have a real impact on the nation's security.

[bossy22]

1. as i always say

this is a good thing but we must traverse this slowly. Russia has been developing a whole new line of Nuclear weapon delivery systems including new ICBMS, new ballistic missle subs, and a brand spankin new strategic bomber designed to carry nuclear warheads.

What does that tell us? That tells us that Russia will only go so far with nuclear disarmorment. They still see nuclear weapons as an integral part of their defense for the forseeble future. Eventually Russia will say "no" to a cut. There is already internal dissent with regards to this pact (many in the Russian military believe they should not cut their arsenal much more).

The issue is that Russia believes (and rightfully so) that their large arsenal gives them strategic balance with the US. Take away that arsenal and the U.S. could roll over Russia with impunity. With that in mind we can easily see Russia refusing to cut their arsenal beyond a certain point.
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And this brings me to my next point that nuclear weapons have life-spans....and ours are past the halfway point. In the relatively near future (20 years) we will be forced with the choice of either building new weapons or complete nuclear disarmorment. So will Russia.