While the word is still out on his efforts on the domestic front – climate change and health care legislation will be make it or break it there – Obama continues to do some very solid work on the foreign policy front. His Russian summit with Medvedev and Putin has already achieved some real results in a framework between the two countries agreeing to cut warheads down to as few as 1,500 each:
Obama and the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, signed a framework deal aimed at cutting warheads to a maximum of 1,675 within seven years of a nuclear arms reduction treaty coming into force.
Current treaties allow for a maximum of 2,200 warheads, though both sides are thought to have more than that deployed, or capable of launch. According to some expert estimates of current numbers, the new commitment would mean each side scrapping almost 1,000 warheads.
This is important stuff, not least of all because it involves a diplomacy that focuses on issues of cooperation rather than just issues of contention. If Obama had come in bellowing about Iran and Georgia and NATO membership for the Ukraine the prospects of ‘resetting’ the relationship, as Medvedev described the results of the summit, would have been nil. By focusing on both, Obama was able to register displeasure while also paving the way forward for future negotiations and potential (and fruitful) compromises between the two countries on important issues. It’s not attention grabbing, and it certainly won’t please the woefully misinformed peanut gallery in the GOP, but it works. As Fred Kaplan notes:
At least Obama seems to be stepping into this arena with eyes wide open. In all his remarks about dealing with Russia, the key word is interests. He doesn’t fantasize about peering into Putin’s soul (like Bush); it’s inconceivable that Putin or Medvedev could con him by whispering in his ear about God’s wishes (as Leonid Brezhnev did with Jimmy Carter, when he said, on the eve of SALT II talks, that God would never forgive them if they failed); nor does he confuse cordial personal relations with diplomatic breakthroughs (as Bush 41 and Bill Clinton were sometimes inclined to do).
And the nuclear issue is extremely important. It leaves the U.S. with more than enough of a nuclear deterrent, it points the way toward Obama’s desired nuclear weapon-free future, and it will help diminish any longing on China’s part to accumulate the type of nuclear arsenal proportionate to its geopolitical status. By demonstrating both Russia and the U.S.’s willingness to reduce their arsenals, China will feel more secure that it’s not falling behind in the arms race, which can – in turn – reduce other potential strategic arms race cascades in India, Pakistan, and beyond.
Of course, these reductions haven’t come to pass yet – but the mere establishment of a framework for them is a very good thing, and one worth noting.
