Misblog

Originally Published December 05, 2009; Last Updated July 29, 2010; Last Republished July 29, 2010:

New START treaty negotiations enter the eighth round with leaders of both nations (U.S. and Russia) pledging to honor the recently expired START treaty until the new treaty can be finished.

Perhaps the negotiators will finish on December 08, 2009, the anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1953 "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations where he said to the world:

"...The United States would seek more than the mere reduction or elimination of atomic materials for military purposes.

It is not enough to take this [nuclear?] weapon out of the hands of the soldiers. It must be put into the hands of those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace.

...To hasten the day when fear of the atom will begin to disappear from the minds of people, and the governments of the East and West, there are certain steps that can be taken now.

...To the making of these fateful decisions, the United States pledges before you--and therefore before the world--its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma--to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life...."--President Eisenhower--

Blog:

• UPDATED 07/29/2010 New START and Missile Defense. Ivan Oelrich addresses some of the treaty provisions and its de minimis critics (be sure to read the clarifying comments, too).

Web:

• UPDATED 05/19/2010 DoD ArmedForcesNews, Mullen Calls Treaty Ratification ‘Right Thing to Do’. Joint Chiefs Chair, Admiral Mike Mullen is onboard for ratification of the New Start Treaty.

  We must work very hard as a nation to reduce or eliminate the logic that states or implies making our potential adversaries less fearful or more comfortable¹ makes us, in some unstated, unreasoned, or unknown, but nevertheless “sure way” less safe—it does not!

• 5/13/2010 WSJ, The Case for the New START Treaty by SecDef.
• UPDATED 04/08/2010 NYT, Russia and U.S. Sign Nuclear Arms Reduction Pact.

  Presidents Obama and Medvedev sign the incremental, but significant Start Treaty - New. The Start Treaty - New must be viewed as a small step on the long road of building the non-authoritarian governments, trust, and verification processes necessary to approach a world with zero nuclear weapons.

  New Start Treaty Signing, Prague

  • Download the New START Treaty and Protocol
  • Signing Remarks by Presidents Obama and Medvedev
  • Pictures, Treaty, Summary of Treaty
• UPDATED 04/01/2010 ACA, New START to Be Signed April 8.

• UPDATED 03/29/2010 DoDLive, Chairman’s Corner: Solidly Behind the New START Treaty.

  Nice to read so much effort is being expended building, improving, and strengthening U.S.-Russia military-to-military relationships.

• UPDATED 02/03/2010 UPI, Russian lawmaker coordinating nuke pact.

• UPDATED 01/04/2010 NTI, Putin Says U.S. Missile Shield Plan Harms Arms Control Efforts pact-report.

  It seems Russia's prime minister is engaging in a process negotiators call "nibbling"—you've achieved a deal you can live with, but want to test if you can gain anything more —news reports indicate there are no further crumbs to be nibbled.

  Ninth round to begin shortly...perhaps the negotiators can finish quickly and begin negotiating what to do about the possibility of colliding with asteroid 99942 Apophis

• UPDATED 12/18/2009 Reuters, Russia, U.S. agree outline nuclear pact-report.

  Fantastic—now on to the "real" reductions and "global zero"!

• UPDATED 12/17/2009 NYT, Nearing New Arms Pact, U.S. and Russia Look Beyond It.

• UPDATED 12/09/2009 UPI, Ban calls for action ahead of NPT summit.

  The Secretary General praised Moscow and Washington for their new START negotiations—urging continued momentum and pursuit of parallel reduction negotiation tracks:

  "The world should pursue several related measures, including eliminating others' weapons of mass destruction; combating (weapons of mass destruction) terrorism; and bans on missiles, space weapons,...We also must not lose sight of conventional weapons disarmament."--UPI quoting Ban Ki-moon--

• UPDATED 12/09/2009 Barents Observer, Also for our Barents safety
• BBC, New Start likely in US-Russia nuclear talks
• BBC, US and Russia pledge nuclear missile treaty soon

-----notes-----

1. Many or most of the time our potential adversaries will not be fearful or uncomfortable for reasons consistent with our customs, understandings, and culture.

Our nation is fortunate to have an extremely capable mix of military and civilian defense leadership to guide our nation's transition during this period where nuclear weapons have the potential for becoming a baleful source of insecurity and instability.