Yesterday the Kremlin announced that the Obama administration and Russia had reached agreement on a new nuclear arms agreement intended to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The declaration appeared to surprise the White House, as Press Secretary Robert Gibbs could only confirm that the two sides were “close” to a treaty. But U.S. officials confirm that “all major obstacles” in negotiations with Moscow have been cleared. Russian approval of a new START agreement has been the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s “long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons” …
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Moscow to speed up the completion of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty follow-on agreement with Russia continues to highlight the difficulty of dealing with Moscow even when the two countries ostensibly share common interests. Although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed an agreement would be reached before the end of the month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin greeted Clinton with an announcement that the nuclear plant Russia is helping Iran build in Bushehr will begin operations this summer. Clinton called the decision “premature.” She …
President Barack Obama’s Russia policy is defined by the Administration’s view that America is overstretched globally, and that without assistance from a major power, such as Russia or China, Washington cannot achieve its goals. Some in the Administration believe that America is in decline and their job is to manage it. The policy of “outstretched hand” toward Russia (as well as other unfriendly powers) follows from this notion. So far, President Obama has failed to achieve any impressive results. The Administration did not succeed in gaining Russian concessions on issues …
Washington and Moscow will restart talks with Washington on a new arms control treaty this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. “We hope it will happen somewhere in the second half of January,” Lavrov said in televised remarks. However, as I’ve written a few days ago in the New York Times, the negotiations are stuck in the muck. Obama administration has failed to complete the negotiation of a treaty to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired on Dec. 5. The two superpowers are now in …
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent rant regarding missile defense and arms control shows that U.S. and Russian negotiators failed to meet the December 5th deadline to sign a new arms control treaty to replace the now-expired START Treaty, not because of technical difficulties, but because of a fundamental question: what both sides see as necessary to “reset” U.S.-Russian relations. The START follow-on negotiations were to result in a treaty reducing strategic nuclear arms that also would serve as the cornerstone of the new bilateral relationship. Putin has made it …
The Obama Administration is currently negotiating with Russia to establish a treaty to succeed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired on December 5th. As the Heritage Foundation has documented, the Administration’s mishandling of strategic nuclear arms control discussions to date has resulted in a hasty and overambitious process that has threatened to circumvent the U.S. Senate’s role in treaty-making and undermine vital national interests. Yesterday, 40 Republican senators and one independent voiced their concerns about the process and pointed out how a START follow-on may threaten U.S. national …
On November 12, General Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, said that Russia was seeking to overcome “a range of problems” in the negotiations on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) follow-on treaty. The Treaty will replace the current 1991 START Treaty that expires on December 5. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov referred to “obstacles” in the talks. The completion of the START follow on treaty is a major part of the administration’s effort to “reset” relations with Russia and is seen as a stepping stone in achieving …
When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Munich in March she presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a gift intended to symbolize the Obama administration’s desire to “push the reset button” on U.S. relations with Moscow. Problem is, the lettering on the little red button said “overload” (peregruzka), not “reset” (perezagruzka). This high level gaffe is just about the perfect symbol for how Obama’s Russian relation relaunch has gone. White House wordsmiths seem to also have forgotten that if you push the reset button, old software bugs get …
Secretary Clinton indicated in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Wednesday that the Administration’s efforts have been increasingly directed toward an arms control and non-proliferation agenda. The Administration is hastily pursuing the ratification of a START follow-on treaty with Russia and, in addition, Secretary Clinton announced on Wednesday that the U.S. will reaffirm the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and commit to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). Clinton criticized the view held …
FOX News reports: Russia and the United States have tentatively agreed to a weapons inspection program that would allow Russians to visit nuclear sites in America to count missiles and warheads. The plan, which Fox News has learned was agreed to in principle during negotiations, would constitute the most intrusive weapons inspection program the U.S. has ever accepted. Initial thoughts: The description reported in the press of what has been agreed to is way too vague to know whether there would be a significant security risk. What we know for …
