Global IssuesPOLITICS: U.S., Russia Nuclear Reductions START Again
When U.S. President Barack Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize last fall he said, 'I'm working with [Russian] President [Dmitri] Medvedev to reduce America and Russia's nuclear stockpiles.' Three and a half months later, that work has come to fruition.
Officials in Moscow and Washington confirmed Wednesday that the two powers have reached an agreement to reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles. It is being hailed as one of Obama's most significant foreign policy accomplishments thus far and, with the reports of the agreement coming just days after Obama's most significant domestic achievement — health care reform — caps a victorious week for the president.
But like health care, the road to a new 10-year accord that would replace 1991's Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was much longer than expected.
This road began nearly a year ago when Obama laid out his vision of a nuclear weapon-free world in a speech in Prague. It is now expected to also end in the Czech capital with a signing ceremony for the new START accord on Apr. 8, a year and three days after the speech.
The treaty will still need to be ratified by parliaments in both countries and, as with health care and other priorities, the U.S. Senate may present another bruising legislative battle for the Democratic president's agenda.
In order to reach the two-thirds majority needed for ratification Obama will need to have the support of some Republicans, but some in that party have strongly opposed any concessions to Russia limiting the U.S.'s ability to implement missile defence programmes.
Russia had wanted missile defence included in a new treaty while the U.S. had wanted only offensive systems included. This disagreement was a large reason the two sides were not able to agree on a new accord before the old START expired Dec. 5.
According to officials familiar with the new accord — including Sen. Richard Lugar, who, with Sen. John Kerry, met with Obama regarding the treaty Wednesday - the impasse will be circumvented by drawing distinctions between offensive and defensive weapons systems in the treaty's preamble.
After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with officials in Moscow late last week, Russian officials said the treaty would likely be signed in April.
But the breakthrough is assumed to have occurred earlier, when the two presidents last spoke by phone on Mar. 13. Asked whether the phone call was indeed when the long-awaited breakthrough occurred, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday, 'It certainly helped move a number of issues along, yes.'
The exact wording of the successor agreement has not been decided upon, nor has any formal announcement been made. Those announcements are likely to come in the next few days, with some reports saying as soon as Friday.
'We’re hopeful to have a call with President Medvedev in the next few days and hope that we can wrap up a new treaty on the next call,' said Gibbs.
The fact that the Czech Republic has already been contacted to set up a signing ceremony, though, would lead to the conclusion that a final agreement on the accord is imminent.
Ultimately, that accord is expected to call for a reduction in nuclear warheads from the 2,200 now allowed to between 1,500 and 1,675 for each country over the next seven years. There would also be significant cuts in the numbers of missiles, jets, submarines and other systems by which those warheads are delivered.
These levels were last seen in the 1960s, before the build-up of nuclear warheads that occurred during the Cold War.
The original START, signed Jul. 31, 1991, resulted in a 40-percent reduction in the countries' arms.
The president is expected to seek further reductions in arms stockpiles later on.
The signing ceremony for the new START accord will come just days before a nuclear summit to be held in Washington beginning Apr. 12. A review conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is set for the following month.
The Obama administration is expected to use these events to increase pressure on countries that are accused of violating the NPT's ban on the spread of nuclear weapons. The START negotiations, therefore, are widely seen as directly related to Washington's efforts to pressure Iran and North Korea to end their nuclear programmes.
In his State of the Union in January, for instance, Obama announced that efforts to complete negotiations on a new START accord - which he called 'the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades' - have 'strengthened our hand in dealing with those nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of nuclear weapons.'
While U.S. attention focuses on fears over nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran, North Korea or terrorist organisations, the vast majority of such arms are still in the arsenals of the two former Cold War superpowers. Of the over 26,000 nuclear warheads in the world today, 95 percent of them are in the U.S. and Russia.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service