President Obama Seeks Russia Deal To Cut Nuclear Weapons

Times Online:

President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country's stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent.

The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times has learnt. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration's plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow.

Read the whole story: Times Online

Comments

[Opt1musPr1me]

Bush sought the same deal with Russia when he took office but nothing came of it, at least I don't think anything came of it. Perhaps he felt OK with Russia's nukes after he looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul. I wonder what Obama will see when he looks into Putin's eyes? Probably a reflection of Russian scientists building even more advanced nukes in the background. Don't trust Russia, but keep them close.

[Realtor n VA]

Wow, a President that is actually doing his job!! Imagine that!!! I actually saw our President's detail yesterday in DC. He drove by me when I was at a red light on Pennyslvania Ave with all the police and secret service in tow! I felt so proud to be an American!!!!

[vietveter]

How about this time they pay us to get rid of weapons.

We are the poor broke ass folks now.

[scarecrow11]

Strength to you, Mr. President.

“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children - not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women - not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.” - JFK

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/o-captain-my-captain/

[Clairvaux]

Great quote from JFK!

[Testiculus]

Great JFK quote as unrealistic as it is.
"As long as you have freedom, you will have someone who tries to take it from you." - DRT

[JulieSA]

"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God...

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty....

We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed....

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

[JulieSA]

contd.

" And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

[arvay]

Kennedy's quote made sense when we were facing a determined and well-armed USSR. Against the peoples' wars in Palestine. Iraq and Afghanistan, it's an asserting of imperial arrogance.

[MajorKong]

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms in not spending money alone.

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.

It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.

It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.

It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.

We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat.

We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Dwight D. Eisenhower - President and Supreme Commander Allied Forces in WWII

[pjburke]

typical rethug... no actual ideas of their own, so they recycle a 45-year-old speech of a Democrat... which just happens to fit their purpose today, even though it does not fit today's circumstances and, as he was a learned and thoughtful man, JFK quite likely would not make that wildly inappropriate speech today.

Why don't you just sit back and wait the 45 years until your thought process catches up to Obama, to today's issues, and to today's Democrats?

Oh... yeah. Good point. At that point we'll still be 45 years or so ahead of you, and you'll be spouting Obama at us.... inappropriately, no doubt.

Guess you're just S.O.L., then.

[ZenJu]

This is an encouraging sign, one that, as an admirer of the late Carl Sagan, I find quite heartening and hopeful. We can never "un-invent" nuclear weapons, but we can reduce the world's arsenals to a less threatening level. We've been fortunate so far; the self-interests of the US, USSR/Russia and other nuclear powers keep any of them from using those weapons. What's frightening is that a government (or movement) with fanatic religious or nationalist ideology--say, North Korea, or the Islamic theocracy of Iran, or a Pakistan ruled by fundamentalists--will not hesitate to employ nuclear arms and be willing to "take a few for the team." Britain, France, Isra*l, India--these are robust democracies with safeguards and conscience. We can't count on this from dictators and fanatics.

[arvay]

"What's frightening is that a government (or movement) with fanatic religious or nationalist ideology--say, North Korea, or the Islamic theocracy of Iran, or a Pakistan ruled by fundamentalists--will not hesitate to employ nuclear arms and be willing to "take a few for the team."

Preposterous. It's not credible that any regime would trigger the certain annihilation that would follow an atomic attack. This is tired, old "Axis of Evil" talk. India and Pakistan, who have inflicted major casualties on each other in real wars, have avoided using nuclear bombs. Iran's quest for nukes is quite understandable since Israel has over 200. They're building a deterrent, not a strike force.

[Clairvaux]

Absolutely right.

It's time to stop demonizing our enemies.

[Hirnlego]

"Iran's quest for nukes is quite understandable since Israel has over 200"
Actually. There is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program. No one has ever proved it. And they're so closely watched that they could not all of the sudden say "we built our first nuclear bomb"

[ZenJu]

A deterrent? Iran would not be in NEED of a "deterrent" if it truly seeks peace and pursues it. If the Iranian government would stop preaching hatred of Israel, recognize Israel, and stop threatening Israel and arming and abetting its enemies, then Iran would find a friend and an ally in Israel. It wouldn't "need" nukes. Israel has sought, actively and otherwise, to make peace and to work with the nations of the Middle East for common cause. The only reason Israel has nuclear weapons is because most of its neighbours show no proclivity whatsoever for peace.

[JulieSA]

The fundamentalist factions in Pakistan and Iran are literally not rational. We cannot deal with them the same way we deal with other nations, especially if Pakistan falls apart and the radicals get control.

[ulatec]

> Yes we can . All it takes is a massive natural catastrofy like an asteroid or a protracted ice age and the humanity which survives is back to square one chucking spears at each other all over again . I beleve its happened before , there are indications through mythology of virtually all civilisations that back before the last ice age (more then 15000 - 2000 yeras ago) humans had the power of flight and they could blow up things on a massive scale .
" I am Vishnu the destroyer of worlds " look that up and see what I mean , Oppenheimer KNEW.

[MajorKong]

There's little reason for the US and Russia to be maintaining 5000+ warheads each almost 20 years after the end of the Cold War.

[yorkie]

THIS PLAN/IDEA WOULD BE GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR OUR LONG TERM SAFETY AND PEACE THAT ANY LEADER COULD DO .......WE NEED WORLD WIDE DISARMING NOW FROM NEEDLESS AND COSTLY WEAPONS ! BUSH WAS A LAP DOG FOR THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY AS WAS CHENEY...WE NEVER WERE ""SAFER"" UNDER BUSH...WE HAVE WASTED TRILLIONS FOR 40 PLUS YRS DURING ARMS RACE AND OTHER MILITARY FOIBLES ,,,,,,,,,

[jhamm1]

With our mutual stockpiles reduced to 1000 each, those conservatives are sure to start throwing the biggest hissy fit of the new millenium, for, along with the reduced prospects for all-out nuclear war, so too goes the sense of purpose from which so many right-wing fanatics derive meaning.

[Frenbar]

Finally an Obama initiative that will have concrete benefits for the United States. Let's hope he follows through.

[billionaireby16]

Give em' Hell Kid! Way to Go!

Young Jack Kennedy would be proud of such an accomplishment, if it becomes a reality.

Obama is taking on Petraeus, Keane, and the Pentagon on Iraq, closing CIA Secret Prisons around the world, closing Guantanomo Bay, ending Torture and working to reduce America and Russia's Nuclear stockpiles by 80% in order to set an example and practice nuclear proliferation so American could actually back up its preaching on nuclear proliferation. This man is taking on the War-Profiteering Military Industrial Complex as a whole. I hope he's careful.

Now, if only we could get him to not surge troops in Afghanistan and stop bombing the Tribal Areas in Pakistan, then we'll be cooking with grease BABY!

[JulieSA]

"We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed."

--JFK

Obama is planning to continue with renditions, and he's reserved the option to continue using enhanced interrogation on his order. Gitmo won't close for at least a year, and when it does, we'll just go back to outsourcing interrogations in secret as we did in the 90s. It will be worse for the captives, but better PR-wise for the US. Obama wants to increase the Pentagon's budget, and he has virtually the same plan for Iraq that Petraeus and the Iraqi government do.

We did not elect a Kucinich type, thank goodness.

[pjburke]

"Obama is planning to continue with renditions, and he's reserved the option to continue using enhanced interrogation on his order."

Why do you insist on pushing those thoroughly debunked lies? They weren't even good when they were new... and you've been told several times before.

Must be the daily parrot-point from Rush.

Typical fiction-spitting Rethug, making it up as they go.

[AliMB]

While President Obama's policy vis-à-vis the Middle East and the GWOT has so far been very efficacious, his early policies towards Russia appear incongruous and inadvertently exude feebleness to Putin. Though little reported, Russia announced that it would suspend placing BMs in Kaliningrad, a plan infamous for being announced the day after Obama won the presidency. We now have learned that the reason for this suspension is because somebody from the WH confirmed that the President would "not prioritise" implementing Bush's plan to install a m i s s i l e defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. This is salient because coincidentally the Iranians just l a u n c h e d a satelltite into orbit, demonstrating that the mullahs have the long-range technology for the deployment of w@rheads . It was clear that the Eastern European-based shield was designed for Iran, and not Russia, since the latter could easily overwhelm such a defense. I believe the Russians will interpret this as a de facto concession which they forced, and will try for more.

Also, recently a supply depot was a t t a c k e d by the T@liban, and there was talk within NATO of oppening a more secure nothern supply line. Well, now the Russians have apparently bribed or b l a c k_mailed the Krgyz government into evicting US forces who are currently providing logistical support for our c o m b a t forces.

[HumeSkeptic]

The missile shield is a fraud and a huge welfare program for defense contractors and certain corrupt European regimes, such as the one in Poland. In particular, expenditure of tax payer dollars in Poland is simply a pay back for their immoral participation in the Iraq war, and for providing t0rture facilities to the CIA.

As for Iran, it is a miniscule threat to world peace compared to Is-ra-el. How many countries has Iran invaded recently, and which countries or parts of other countries is Iran currently occupying?

As to "now the Russians have apparently bribed or b l a c k_mailed the Krgyz government ", of course, you just made that sh*t up and, therefore, it is apparent to you only, but not to any sane person reading your post.
.

[JulieSA]

Iran, through it's proxies, occupies the Gaza strip and part of Lebanon. Iran-backed Hamas mur derers hunted down and killed their political opposition in Gaza. Iran is the cause of the miserable state of the Gaza Palestinians and the mess in S Lebanon. At least their surrogate Syria finally was forced to leave Lebanon, but Syria still assassinates Lebanese leaders on a regular basis.

[AliMB]

"As to "now the Russians have apparently bribed or b l a c k_mailed the Krgyz government ", of course, you just made that sh*t up and, therefore, it is apparent to you only, but not to any sane person reading your post"

Bakiyev made his announcement in Moscow after the Russian government reportedly agreed to lend Kyrgyzstan $2 billion, write off $180 million in debt and add another $150 million in aid. The timing and place of the announcement indicated the Kremlin's involvement.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/61394.html

You should do some research before making e x t r e m i s t conjectures ("you just made that sh*t up). That way you might not embarass yourself.

[AliMB]

Part II

The Pentagon knows that the Manas Air Base is vital to plans to 'surge' an additional 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan. This is odd because just a few weeks ago General Petraeus received assurances from PM Bakiyev that the Kremlin wasn't trying to force his hand. With Obama now in the White House, Kyrgyzstan has had a sudden change of heart. Thus, I greet this news (if true) with t r e pidation; I am not confident (despite the highly capable Samore) that Obama can avoid a power play by Putin. If the President really believes this is all about a r m s-control, then he will find himself with an unpleasant surprise. The Kremlin is constituted with the most realpolitik leaders alive today and they would not agree to reduction talks unless they believed they could parlay something more pertinent out of it. The scrapping of the BMD might be one, but I fear it also includes a pledge not to include new member countries in NATO or abandon democracy in former Soviet states. Either compromise would weaken US security. I can’t speak intelligently to the veracity of the following quote from the Times article, but if it is true, it represents the epitome of American naivety that will result in failed policy:

“Mr Obama views the reduction of a r m s by the US and Russia as critical to efforts to persuade countries such as Iran not to develop the B o m b”

[GOP2009]

Please reword "...epitome of US Presidential naivety... "
vice "...epitome of American naivety..."

[HumeSkeptic]

Just more unsubstantiated bunk, similar to Part I. I should have stopped reading after Part I. My mistake.

[Bernique]

Imagine spending every dollar that the U.S. has been spending on armaments in the last , say, 50 years, to doing good around the world. Imagine.

(this will shut the thread down).

[Rumplestiltskin]

What is "doing good"?
Freeing the Poles?
Nah, it is more important to play games at the UN about missile counts.
Play about again.

[FOOLS Politicians LIEtoU]

Then you would not have the freedom of speech that you have right now to ask that question that no doubt came from a 3 year old.

Imagine for a moment that elephants are pink.
Frogs had wings.
Fish could talk.

Just Imagine.....................................................

[AmandaBC]

Actually it's the 3-year-old who still thinks in terms of "goodies and baddies." Anyone slightly more mature than that has learned that the world is made of infinite shades of gray...

Oh, and BTW, freedom of speech and militarism don't exactly go together...

[MajorKong]

My rights are enshrined in the US Constitution.

They are not begrudgingly granted to me by some kind of benevolent military dictatorship.

[JSDKoeln]

Yeah... Iraq was such a huge threat to us!

[mommadona]

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

I've been looking for the end of this for over 50 years.

Nuclear Notebook: U.S. and Soviet/Russian intercontinental
ballistic missiles, 1959–2008

http://thebulletin.metapress.com/content/037qk4866n431045/fulltext.pdf

[HumeSkeptic]

Wow!
On most issues, this guy is exceeding my expectations. What a President we elected!
.

[JZ735]

This is precisely what I want Obama to do...way to go...

My Mother worked on nuclear disarmament in the face of RAYGUN's saber rattling, and if she were around today, she would be cheering Barack's move...

Now we're talking, Obama...

[FOOLS Politicians LIEtoU]

Can't get your viginity back after you lose it.

Sorry - fact of life

FLOWER POWER....hehe

[JSDKoeln]

obviously... the last 8 years the US has been ra.ped by the Bush Cartel. think some good therapy and time to heal is what the doc ordered. But do put down that kool aid. i think there are some 12 step programs to help you!

[HumeSkeptic]

The topic here is not virginity.

(False analogy: a common logical fallacy used by the disingenuous.)