Recently I spoke about Obama’s plans to cut the United States nuclear arsenal in the hopes that other nations such as Russia, would soon follow. It appears that his plans are making a positive impression on Russian Military leaders. The head of Russian General Staff, Nikolai Makarov stated that Russia will cut their nuclear arsenal as soon as an appropriate deal is reached with the US. Nikolai stated that with cooperation from the US, nuclear weapons levels will be even lower than we saw in 2002. He also asserted that the President of Russia was fully on board with the weapons reduction plan.
Today Russia and the US will discuss these issues in Rome. On the top of the agenda today will be discussing a nuclear reduction treaty to replace the START treaty which expires later this year.
The Russian President stated, “In this treaty, which should replace the START treaty, it is necessary to limit the delivery systems of the nuclear warheads and not only the quantity of warheads themselves — taking into account intercontinental ballistic missiles, and submarine-based ballistic missiles and heavy bombers that carry nuclear means.”
All in all, I think Obama’s plan is starting to pay off. If Russia, one of the world’s premier military forces, is willing to cut their nuclear arsenal then I would say Obama’s diplomatic plans are paying off.
What do you think of Obama’s plans in light of Russia’s newfound cooperation? Can anyone really argue with his nuclear disarmament plan if it is producing this much success?
