[Peace-discuss] Fake left, drive right again

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Remember how Obama's supporters said that this issue would show his true 
colors? I think they were right. --CGE]

	US ABM plan undermines START 2 talks, Russia says
	Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:05:12 GMT

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov says that the United States' 
continued efforts to build a missile defense shield in Europe complicate nuclear 
arms reduction talks.

"It is impossible to talk seriously about the reduction of nuclear capabilities 
when a nuclear power is working to deploy protective systems against vehicles to 
deliver nuclear warheads possessed by other countries," Ivanov said at an 
international security conference in Munich on Saturday.

Russia and the United States are currently in talks to draft a new treaty to 
replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1), the cornerstone of 
post-Cold War arms control, which expired in December 2009.

Ivanov said Russia unilaterally cut its tactical nuclear arsenals by 75% in the 
early 1990s, but the United States did not respond with a similar move and even 
failed to withdraw its weapons from Europe.

He added that Russia will demand that nuclear weapons be kept on the territory 
of countries which they belong to.

However, the Russian deputy prime minister confirmed earlier reports that the 
new bilateral nuclear arms pact could be signed in the first half of this year, 
saying that ratification may take place in the fall.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118053&sectionid=351020602

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