Report: Russia, US may sign arms deal next week in Prague

[sabra]

Source: M&C

Prague
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, could sign a new nuclear arms reduction treaty on December 11 in Prague, Czech Television reported Friday, citing sources in the Russian media and diplomats.

The Czech public broadcaster said the Kremlin had provisionally instructed Russian television stations
to book satellite transmission from Prague for next Friday and obtain Czech entry visas for their reporters.

Prague is a logical contender for the signing, as Obama chose the Czech capital for the April speech in which he urged the world to eliminate of nuclear weapons.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday that Moscow and Washington are close to completing a deal to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also known as START I.


Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1517027.php/Report-Russia-US-may-sign-arms-deal-next-week-in-Prague

[Wizard777]

1. This is good news indeed. We are getting back on track.

[Igel]

2. This was never off track.

The treaty it's replacing reduced nuclear arms significantly.

Another treaty in the meantime came along and reduced them significantly from those level.

This treaty will reduce them even further.

The first two treaties are ignored because the first was signed in 1991, pre-Clinton, and the second in 2002, post-Clinton. Coming in times of chaos and darkness in which it was axiomatic that nothing good could be imagined or done, they're simply assumed to be impossible and therefore to not exist. Who are we to challenge a perfectly, uh, such an axiom?

The treaty that's being negotiated now was going to be negotiated in any event. The only question was exactly how low the numbers would be and some of the details. Advance crews started talking about the generalities over a year ago, but they were replaced in February and started the same conversation again.