| Recently, President Obama and President | | | | Today they've opened the Nuclear Security |
| Medvedev signed a deal to reduce their stockpiles | | | | Summit in Washington, attended by 47 nations, |
| of nuclear weapons. It was widely hailed as a | | | | and they needed to show an interest in reducing |
| tremendous success, and indeed it will be if it | | | | stockpiles themselves, if they were to ask the |
| represents only the first step of many. However, | | | | same of the world at large. |
| until further efforts are taken, this deal is not all | | | | The announcement from the Ukraine that they |
| that it appears. | | | | will get rid of enriched Uranium within the next |
| For example, Russia's commitment to eliminate | | | | two years was a welcome surprise, and it |
| 200 launchers is actually less than they have | | | | represented another step in what could become a |
| already planned to decommission on their own, as | | | | world-changing shift. Most of the Ukrainian Uranium |
| they continue to unwind much of their cold war | | | | will likely go to Russia, where the security of the |
| capabilities. | | | | materials will be dramatically higher. |
| The deal also goes after launchers and launch | | | | President Obama has continually committed to a |
| sites, but does not eliminate very many actual | | | | world without the threat of nuclear weapons, and |
| nuclear missiles. | | | | he seems to be taking the right first steps. |
| The U.S. did not release the details or paperwork | | | | However, we are at the very early stages. We'll |
| of the deal at first, but the Russians did, and | | | | need a commitment of dozens of nations, many |
| reading the translation provides a lot more insight. | | | | years of international legal wrangling, and lots of |
| The superpowers control 90% of all nuclear | | | | complicated things to go right in the mean time. |
| warheads between them, and have been the | | | | If we get that far, and make the progress that |
| ongoing sources of delay for any worldwide | | | | the world is hoping for, then these early steps |
| anti-nuclear proliferation treaties to date. | | | | may become among the most significant of our |
| That is why the actual timing of the deal was a | | | | time. |
| posturing move by the superpowers. | | | | |