US-Russia Relations: A Grand Obama Bargain on Nuclear Warheads?

Just to put everything into the US-Russia mix, as we follow the manoeuvres on issues such as Afghanistan and Central Asia. The Times of London is blaring out an exclusive that the Obama Administration is proposing an 80 percent reduction of nuclear warheads by the US and Russia to 1000 each. This is in addition to the Obama decision to delay roll-out of the American missile defence plans.



The Times also features the response of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov: "We welcome the statements from the new Obama Administration that they are ready to enter into talks and complete within a year, in this very confined timeframe, the signing of a new Russian-US treaty on the limitation of strategic attack weapons. We are also ready for this, undoubtedly."

The story from Washington appears to be based on a single "senior administration source", but it corresponds with other information that has come to the attention of Enduring America. A key unanswered question is whether the Obama Administration will tie this grand initiative to other issues, such as the Russian position on Iran and the competition in Central Asia, or whether it will keep the nuclear issue as a separate, distinct negotiation.