US and Russia agree nuclear weapons cuts

[Netto Azure]

US and Russia agree nuclear cuts

US President Barack Obama: 'The US and Russia must lead by example'
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US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have reached an outline agreement to cut back their nations' stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
The "joint understanding" signed in Moscow would see reductions of deployed nuclear warheads to below 1,700 each within seven years of a new treaty.
The accord would replace the 1991 Start I treaty, which expires in December.
Mr Obama said the two countries were both "committed to leaving behind the suspicion and the rivalry of the past".
Separately, Russia also agreed to allow the US military to fly troops and weapons across its territory to Afghanistan, allowing it to avoid using supply routes through Pakistan that are attacked by militants.

The two countries also will set up a joint commission to co-operate over energy, and fighting terrorism and drug-trafficking. Military co-operation, suspended since last year's conflict between Russia and Georgia, will be resumed.
However, on the contentious issue of US plans to base parts of a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, the presidents merely said they had agreed to a joint study into ballistic missile threats and the creation of a data exchange centre.

Well it's a nice little step on the road of nuclear non-proliferation. I mean Russian Stockpiles from the Cold War are a bit unguarded compared to US ones. :/

 

[Phoenicks]

Yeah, sure, why not? I'm fine with nuclear missile stockpile cutbacks, as long as it doesn't interfere with our ability to protect ourselves. Since we don't really need too many nuclear weapons, I guess this is good.

 

[Netto Azure]

Yeah, sure, why not? I'm fine with nuclear missile stockpile cutbacks, as long as it doesn't interfere with our ability to protect ourselves. Since we don't really need too many nuclear weapons, I guess this is good.

Meh. I agree with this. I mean we still do have thousands of nuclear warheads still on Cold War positioning.

The Cold War might be over but we could still blow ourselves up multiple times over. =/

We'll probably not get rid of all of them in our lifetime (That's happy talk) but slowing down proliferation is a nice goal.

 

[RexRacer]

I like this very much.

 

[Eredar Warlock]

I'm OK with this, but don't expect the belligerent countries like Iran or North Korea to follow suit.

 

[Jeff]

Exactly. I won't be celebrating until N.K. and Iran reduce their stockpiles.

 

[Falconwing]

I'll bet Korea is happy...

 

[Phoenicks]

I'll bet Korea is happy...

Actually, thinking about it, this probably wasn't the best move to make now. I mean, I'm for reducing the nuclear stockpile, but not when NK is trolling around for dominance. Unless Obama managed to convince Russia to stop supporting N.K., I think that N.K. will be more aggressive now.

 

[Magmaster12]

Maybe now those crazy people will stop protesting in front of the white house.

 

[Phoenicks]

Maybe now those crazy people will stop protesting in front of the white house.

You mean the Tea Parties? Those protests are for entirely different reasons, although they're kind of off-topic.

 

[TTEchidna]

Wow, no one's called Obama a dirty socialist yet for making an agreement with Russia.

I probably spoke too soon.

 

[Valdez]

Exactly. I won't be celebrating until N.K. and Iran reduce their stockpiles.

Actually, thinking about it, this probably wasn't the best move to make now. I mean, I'm for reducing the nuclear stockpile, but not when NK is trolling around for dominance. Unless Obama managed to convince Russia to stop supporting N.K., I think that N.K. will be more aggressive now.

Uh, last I heard North Korea had enough material for about 7 nukes. This treaty reduces the number of US nukes to about 1700. That's a big difference (and how many nukes do you think it would take to wipe North Korea off the map anyways?)

1700 is still far too many, IMO.

 

[Nicoleta01]

I'm glad it happened, but until other nations begin to downstock their nukes I don't think it'll do any good.

 

[CLASSIFIED]

Now we need Iran, Vietnam and Korea to do the same thing.

 

[Hector]

I think it's a good first step. And I'm not worried about the little nations that are acting up because we still have so many more weapons than them. If I remember my facts correctly, we have more nukes than every other nation in the world (except Russia) combined.