Originally posted by Boroda
Wilfrid, is it an American humor or what?
Again: US idea of "disarmament" is removing the warheads from the missiles and storing them "for good days", leaving missiles operational too. How much does it take to mount a warhead onto a modern ICBM? Who are they trying to fool?
Its much less about money than it is about time. The time it takes to mount a nuclear warhead in storage to a delivery system (wich may or may not exist I haven't seen the treaty yet) that is important to many. The idea is that creating a longer timeframe for a nuclear buildup will allow for more diplomatic manuvering before these weapons would/could be used. The US and Russia are trying to get away from the Mutually Assured destruction model, and keepping everything on a hair trigger. Warheads without a delivery system are useless as strategic weapons.
Boroda, The other option was this: "Let the Russians wither on the vine." That was the exact phrase uttered by a former US General and Russian Policy expert during a congressional hearing in 2000. The Bush administration seemed to be fully ready to follow this advice. They have constantly said "We will make unilateral cuts, that we feel are within our national security framework, but we will not enter into arms control agreements with Russia." The very fact that they entered into ANY agreement is a pretty big statement about the value Bush and his administration place on Putin and the Russians. Considering that two years ago I recall people on Capitol Hill wispering about Putin and "Weimar Russia" goes a long way to showing how far this relationship has evolved.
Russia has
no choice but to make cuts in the strategic rocket forces. The economic collapse has forced their hands. The Russians have been changing their nuclear doctrine to fit a smaller force of land based missiles. The Topol M program is reflective of that.
I'm about as pro-Russian as you're going to find in the US, but your assertion that the US is "Pulling a fast one" here is a bit off base in my opinion. They extended a hand of friendship to a Russian leader who has some US Public Relations problems (his connection to the KGB and the War in Chechnya concern some Americans, both Democrat and Republican). Everyone wins here.
-Sikboy
Here is a paper, written a year and a half ago on the Nuclear situation between the US and Russia. The case study gives a deeper investigation into the current and future status of Russian nuclear forces. Sorry for the rigid structure of the paper, my hands were tied when it came to format.
Russian Nuclear Strategy: To Deter or Disarm
