The United States and Russia have 95% of the world's nuclear weapons between them, a throwback to the days of the Cold War and the 'wisdom' of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Stockpiles of nuclear weapons have since decreased to the levels of the start of the Cold War and, yesterday, Presidents Obama and Medvedev negotiated a treaty to reduce this number further. Though, a small step (they both still have enough weapons to blow up the world several times over) this is a strong signal of intent from both sides that disarmament is on their respective political agendas.
President Obama has vowed to ratify the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and hold a conference on non-proliferation at some point in the near future but, until now had not spent a huge amount of political capital on the issue. That has now changed and, with it, we may begin to see a thawing of relations with the Kremlin, particularly ass a deal for information sharing and nuclear trade between the two countries was included in the package, something which would have been unthinkable even a decade ago.
Obama may still struggle to compromise with Russia on issues such as the European missile defence shield and Georgian independence but finding common ground on certain issues is often a stepping stone to finding solutions on more potent disagreements. Certainly, this is progress. Furthermore, progress on this issue may yet put pressure on Iran and North Korea to halt their nuclear programmes (though it will likely not stop them). A cynic may even go as far as to say that fears over new nuclear powers arising within striking distance of Russia, the U.S and Israel are what forced these two historical rivals to the table.
And so it is with great irony that the two nations who started and dominated the race to build nuclear stockpiles should lead the efforts to eradicate them. That this will set off a wave of like-for-like responses elsewhere is doubtful, but the intent is there and that is certainly a start.
ADJB
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's positive to see that the USA and Russia had these talks - despite the doubt displayed by the Chair of the CND (and presumably many others!) who were reluctant to praise Obama's disarmament and nuclear reduction proposals for fear that talks between the US and Russia would never get off their feet.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe critics already coming out saying the agreement was 'disappointing', it's a start!