Obama, Medvedev agree to deal to cut nuke weapons

MOSCOW – Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev confidently committed to a year-end deal to slash nuclear stockpiles by about a third on Monday, but the U.S. leader failed to crack stubborn Kremlin objections to America's missile defense plans — a major stumbling block to such an agreement.

Both men renewed pledges to pull U.S.-Russian relations out of the dismal state into which they had descended during the eight years of the Bush administration . And to that end, they signed a series of agreements and joint statements designed to enliven and quicken contacts on a broad range of issues — including cooperation on Afghanistan , a key Obama foreign policy objective .

Obama said the leaders both felt relations had "suffered from a sense of drift. President Medvedev and I are committed to leaving behind the suspicion and rivalry of the past."

His host expressed similar good will.

"This is the first but very important step in improving full-scale cooperation between our two countries, which would go to the benefit of both states," the Russian leader said. But he injected a note of caution, saying discussions so far "cannot remove the burden of all the problems."

There was no statement of Russian readiness to help the United States persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, even though Obama's top Russia adviser, Michael McFaul , told reporters in a post-meeting briefing that Iran dominated the two leaders' private meeting that opened the summit. Talks continued in an expanded session that included 12 advisers for each president.

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We're headed in a good direction with Russia...

 

I agree, this is a step in the right direction. I think Obama is doing a good job so far,the short time he has been in office.
He can't fix, all the previous Aministrations stuff ups,in five minutes.
The last 8 yrs, has been a dark period, for the US.
Expressing good will between the two nations,sure beats the alternative.
I don't worry about the Nuclear Stockpiles, Russia and the US have,but what I do worry about, are these rogue Nations,like North Korea and Iran.

 

Doug I think this will be a major factor in the disarmament of Iranian and North Korean Missiles. IF and I say IF Russia and the US can come to an agreement then they may work together to make this happen. Two very strong superpowers coming together to fight 2 similar causes may just work.

 

what puzzles me is why these countries bother developing Nuclear Weapons, the affects of nuclear testing by the French, British, and Americans is still being felt today, nuclear accidents like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, also demonstrate how radioactivity can travel, so If they don't get shot down by a patriot missile system, and do hit there target, and in fact do actually detonate you are still going to affect yourself, suicide bombing on a mass scale.

surely there are better ways to spend money:huh: