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Obama signs New START treaty

03 February 2011 23:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The United States and Russia have signed an agreement, which reduces the number of deployable nuclear weapons of both countries by one-third, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) will cut the number of deployable long-range warheads to 1,550 each.

The treaty -- which will not take effect until this Saturday when both countries exchange the signed documents -- is far from Obama’s goal of a world without nuclear weapons.

New START does not include a nuclear test ban or controls on tactical nuclear weapons. The Obama administration claims that it could put pressure on other countries with nuclear weapons to cut their stockpiles.

The Arms Control Association is optimistic that New START will influence an upcoming UN-sponsored conference on a nuclear weapons free Middle East. It is looking to step up pressure on Israel to acknowledge its possession of dozens of nuclear weapons and to reduce them.

National security analyst Michael O’Hanlon disagrees that New START will provide a foundation for the Middle East nuclear arms conference. He said it could slow the rapid number of weapons being produced by Pakistan and India and provide impetus for those nations to cut their arsenals.

â€œThe number one concern here is Pakistan, which has the fastest growing arsenal in the world right now and of course not a particularly stable country,â€ O’Hanlon told Press TV.

The most important aspect of the treaty is that it reorganizes the relationship between the US and Russia, possibly setting the stage for new agreements to further slash the number of deployable nuclear warheads.