Let’s hope this has a positive effect. I just wonder how carefully Russia is going to monitor those old bomb parts:
PRAGUE — With flourish and fanfare, President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia signed a nuclear arms control treaty on Thursday and opened what they hoped would be a new era in the tumultuous relationship between two former cold war adversaries.
Meeting here in the heart of a once-divided Europe, the two leaders put aside the acrimony that has characterized Russian-American ties in recent years as they agreed to bring down their arsenals and restore an inspection regime that expired in December. Along the way, they sidestepped unresolved disputes over missile defense and other issues.
Pretty big hurdles to overcome yet. Just yesterday Lavrov hinted that Russia wouldn’t ratify if the missile defense preambles stayed, but there’s no way that the Senate will ratify if they’re removed.
It’s a fine, symbolic gesture. But from what i’ve read it amounts to not much more than a treaty on how to count warheads differently so that everyone gets to keep all their nukes but it looks like reductions have been made.
http://agonist.org/russ_wellen/20100405/is_the_new_start_just_the_nuclear_version_of_health_care_reform