Late last week, the Obama administrationÊannounced that the United States and Russia reached an agreement on a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). President Obama will sign the treaty with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Prague on April 8, which will produce the most "most concrete foreign policy achievement" of the Obama administration thus far. The Financial Times, in an editorial titled "Obama makes the world a safer place," noted that "in the past 10 days, Barack Obama has pulled off the two biggest achievements of his US presidency."ÊThis new treatyÊwillsignificantlyÊreduce the number of nuclear weapons pointed at American citiesÊand will ensure that verification and monitoring measures that maintain nuclear stability between Russia and the U.S. -- and were contained in President Reagan's original START treaty -- are preserved and strengthened.

This agreement gives a shot in the arm to the non-proliferation regime and should improve the chances of spurring far-reaching action to prevent nuclear proliferation atÊupcoming international nuclear summits. The START agreement also importantly affirms the Obama administration's efforts toÊreset U.S.-Russia relationsÊand lays the groundwork for more productive engagement. However, this new treaty must be approved by a two-thirds majority in the Senate, setting up a test for Senate conservatives. The new START treaty hasÊextensive bipartisan supportÊfrom senior foreign policy officials and extends Reagan's legacy, yet there are concerns that many Senate Republicans, motivated by an extreme foreign policy ideology and partisan politics, will oppose the treaty. This would have dire consequences, as it would greatly upset nuclear stability, create tensions between the U.S. and Russia, and potentially doom the precarious nonproliferation regime.Ê

(The Progress Report)