The Global Citizen: START

New START and Senate Processes: A Critique of Last Resort?

Meg McDermott | August 23rd, 2010
Topics: Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), Nuclear Disarmament

Stephen Rademaker's recent piece in the Washington Post is the latest in a series of offensives against the New START treaty with Russia. He falsely plants the blame for the delayed ratification schedule on the Democrats, although it is the Republicans who have spent the past few months scrambling to hold the treaty hostage to political maneuvering. On the plus side, he implicitly concedes that the debate on the content of the treaty is essentially over - he has no beef with the text or implications of New START. At a loss for substantive things to critique, he turns to an otherwise tedious and boring topic: Senate processes.

Misconceptions About Missile Defense: The Truth About the New START Treaty

Michael Crabtree | July 13th, 2010
Topics: Nuclear Disarmament, Prevent War

As the hearings on the New START Treaty continue in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, support for the treaty has come from many sources, including the United States military. Gen. Kevin Chilton, U.S. Strategic Command Chief and the man responsible for the country's nuclear forces, presented both financial and tactical reasons for ratification. Without the treaty, U.S. insight into Russian nuclear capabilities would be severely limited. Guesstimates would replace concrete Intel, leading to one of two possibilities:

Presidents Obama and Medvedev Sign Historic New START

Meg McDermott | April 9th, 2010
Topics: Nuclear Disarmament, Prevent War

President Obama signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) alongside Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Prague early Thursday morning, which proposes modest cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both countries. The 30% reductions required by the treaty will bring the number of nuclear weapons available to levels not seen since the 1960's. The signing ended more than a year of negotiations between the U.S. and Russia, and President Obama noted that New START has been an opportunity to "reset" relations between the two countries. This constitutes a diplomatic victory for President Obama, who hopes that the Senate will be receptive to the treaty. Still, some advocates insist that the cuts were not deep enough, and hope that priority will be given to securing further agreements on arsenal cutbacks with the Russians.

Obama and Medvedev Discuss Arms Treaty

Veronica Glick | March 15th, 2010
Topics: Nuclear Disarmament, Prevent War

On Saturday, President Obama and Russian President Medvedev spoke for 30 minutes by telephone about "START" (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991 which expired in December). The new treaty would reduce the active nuclear arsenals of both countries by more than one-quarter. It would require each side to reduce deployed strategic nuclear warheads from 2,200 to roughly 1,600, and reduce strategic bombers and land- and sea-based missiles to below 800, down from the old limit of 1,600.

Congress Negotiates Nuclear Program

Citizens for Global Solutions | August 4th, 2009
Topics: Nuclear Disarmament, Prevent War

On July 23, a bipartisan group of six senior senators (including John Kerry, chair of the Foreign Relations committee; Carl Levin, chair of the Armed Services committee; and ranking Republicans Richard Lugar and John McCain) wrote to President Obama about the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty [START]. Brought into effect in 1991, the treaty will expire at the end of this year and is beginning negotiation in Congress.

Reviving U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Control

Citizens for Global Solutions | May 7th, 2009
Topics: Nuclear Disarmament, Prevent War

On Wednesday, May 6, the Brookings Institute held a discussion on U.S.-Russia relations and the challenges posed by nuclear arms control. Panelists included Brookings President Strobe Talbot, Steven Pifer, Visiting Fellow and author of “Beyond START: Negotiating the Next Step in U.S. and Russian Strategic Nuclear Arms Reductions,” and Brookings vice president and director of Foreign Policy Carlos Pascual.