U.S. and Russia have reached agreements for a historic new treaty to reduce nuclear arsenals

[babylonsister]

Pact to cut US-Russia nukes; signing in 2 weeks
AP

By ROBERT BURNS and LYNN BERRY, Associated Press Writers


WASHINGTON – After long and trying negotiations, the U.S. and Russia have reached agreements for a historic new treaty to reduce the nuclear arsenals of former Cold War rivals, officials said Wednesday. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are to sign the pact in two weeks in Prague.

The deal is seen as an important step toward rolling back global nuclear dangers and sealing an increased level of trust and cooperation between the U.S. and Russia, who possess the vast majority of the world's nuclear arms and have labored under strained relations in recent years.

snip//

The new agreement to reduce long-range nuclear weapons would replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December. An important feature of the new deal is that it includes a mechanism for verifying that each side complies — an element that was absent from a 2002 deal, known as the Moscow Treaty, that accelerated the weapons reductions laid out in the 1991 treaty.

The Moscow Treaty set limits on both sides' strategic nuclear warheads at between 1,700 and 2,200. The new deal, whose provisions have not been made public, is expected to lower that to about 1,500. It also would reduce the permissible number of strategic launchers — the missiles and bombs that deliver warheads to their targets.

Obama spent an hour Wednesday in the White House briefing Democratic Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Richard Lugar, the committee's ranking Republican. Both would play major roles in ratification of the emerging treaty.

Kerry said he and Lugar would hold hearings to examine details.

"A well-designed treaty will send an important message to the rest of the world that America is prepared to lead efforts with key stakeholders to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons," he said.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100324/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_russia_nuclear

[BeyondGeography]

1. Obama's trying to do too much

[babylonsister]

6. Hahaha! Would not surprise me. nt

[Cha]

2. That's what versatile presidents

do.:)

[BlooInBloo]

3. Confirmed: hopey-changey is working out ok for me. Thanks to all who asked.

[damonm]

4. Nice, but I don't feel safer.

Someone's pointing a gun at me. He takes some bullets out, but he's still pointing the gun (still loaded) at me.
This does very little for my safety.

[Uzybone]

5. more inactivity by the Obama admin, get to work dammit!

[lamp_shade]

7. A little something for The President's cap > >

:

[Soylent Brice]

8. K&R

[SpartanDem]

9. K&R