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Digital News Report – The New START Treaty of 2010 is being hailed by the Obama Administration but is being criticized by opponents as reckless and irresponsible. This is the first step towards a nuclear weapons free world envisioned by President Barack Obama.
There have been other STrategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START) before dating back to 1991 (START I) and 1993 (START II). The new treaty, announced on March 26th, was signed today by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.
The goal is to limit the number of operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550. That is a reduction by 2/3 of what the original START treaty called for. The number of ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) will be limited to 800.
That number of SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) launchers and heavy bombers equipped with nuclear bombs is limited to 700. The number of nuclear missile launcher will be reduced in half.
The timetable for meeting these reductions is seven years. The duration of this treaty is 10 years. The US and Russia hold over 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
“While the New START treaty is an important first step forward, it is just one step on a longer journey,” President Obama said today. “As I said last year in Prague, this treaty will set the stage for further cuts.”
The first START treaty expired in December and President Bush’s SORT treaty is scheduled to expire in December 2012.
By: Tim Edwards
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