U.S. refusal to prolong START-I fatal mistake - Russian experts - 1

[CGowen]

OSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti) - A decision not to renew a major nuclear arms reduction treaty may have dire consequences for U.S. foreign policy and the entire world, Russian experts said Thursday.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union on July 31, 1991, five months before the union collapsed, and remains in force between the U.S., Russia, and three other ex-Soviet states

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General James E. Cartwright, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said Wednesday that the refusal to prolong the START-1 Treaty would allow the United States to conduct quick and pinpointed strikes anywhere in the world, which is crucial for an effective fight against global terrorism.

"With such statements, the U.S. officials continue to promote their policy of forced global leadership," Sergei Markov, the head of the Institute of Political Research, a Kremlin-connected Moscow think tank, told RIA Novosti.

"All that we see today is that a global superpower is essentially ruled by extremists who commit catastrophic mistakes throwing the world into risky ventures," Markov said, adding that in the U.S. this group of radical extremists is represented by the so-called Neoconservatives, led by Vice President Dick Cheney.


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"It is clear today that the American people will reject the current policy and this group (of radical Neoconservatives) will retreat, 'licking their wounds,' to think tanks and newspaper and magazine offices," the expert said.

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