Global Capitals Hail New START

A daily serving of today's top stories with excerpts in bullet form:

Obama Makes the World A Safer Place - The Financial Times [link]

• In the past 10 days, Barack Obama has pulled off the two biggest achievements of his US presidency. First, the passage of his healthcare bill. Second, the US and Russia have agreed the first treaty on mutual nuclear weapons cuts in eight years. The arms control agreement may not be making as many headlines at home as the president’s victory on healthcare. But it is Mr Obama’s first concrete foreign policy success – and very welcome at that.

Arms Control's New Era - The New York Times [link]

• Although the deal makes only modest cuts in both countries’ arsenals, President Obama deserves credit for reviving an arms control process that his predecessor disparaged as a cold-war relic. He is now leading the way on reducing the nuclear threat.

Canada Welcomes New U.S.-Russia Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - Xinhua [link]

• Canada welcomes the new strategic arms reduction treaty by the United States and Russia, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon said Friday. “This treaty represents a critical step in ensuring and enhancing global security,” Cannon said in a statement. “It will also help advance cooperative threat-reduction projects on which Canada collaborates with Russia and the United States.”

On Surprise Trip, Obama Rips Afghan Corruption - The Associated Press [link]

• The trip ... was an extraordinary capstone to a momentous week in Obama's presidency. He achieved the most ambitious domestic policy initiative in decades with a historic health care overhaul and scored first major foreign policy achievement with a significant new arms control treaty with Russia.

US and Russia Finalize New Nuclear Pact, First in a Generation - The Times of India [link]

• The new pact could strengthen Obama politically, giving him a major foreign policy success and building on the domestic political victory he scored this week when he signed sweeping healthcare reform into law.

U.S. Russia Reach Landmark Accord on New Nuclear Arms Treaty - Kyodo News [link]

• U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reached a landmark accord Friday on a new nuclear arms treaty between the two countries to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START1, the White House said.

Obama and Medvedev Seal the Deal on Nuclear Arms by Phone - The Times of London [link]

• It took no more than 15 minutes yesterday for President Obama and President Medvedev to agree on the final wording of a treaty that will lead to significant cuts in American and Russian strategic nuclear warheads.  The deal, to be signed by Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev in Prague on April 8, marks the American President’s most significant foreign policy achievement since taking office.

A Worthy U.S.-Russia Arms Control Treaty - The Washington Post [link]

• The new U.S.-Russian arms control treaty was described Friday by the Obama administration as a step toward the achievement of a host of ambitious goals: a "strong partnership" with the regime of Vladimir Putin; multilateral action to stop or reverse the nuclearization of Iran and North Korea; and not least, as President Obama put it, "a world without nuclear weapons." But it's not necessary to share the president's long-term vision, or his expansive estimation of the new treaty's influence, in order to celebrate what appears to be a solid diplomatic achievement.
  
  

Russie et Etats-Unis Signeront à Prague un Traité de Désarmement Nucléaire - Le Monde [link]

• Cette signature représenterait une étape importante des efforts entrepris pour relancer les relations entre les Etats-Unis et la Russie, mises à mal au cours de la précédente décennie. Les deux pays espèrent que la réduction des deux plus grands arsenaux nucléaires du monde enverra un signal aux autres pays et permettra d'endiguer la prolifération des armes nucléaires.

New Start - The Economist [link]

• It has been a good week for Barack Obama. After passing his long-awaited health-care bill, he has now struck an equally long-awaited deal with Russia to reduce the two countries’ nuclear stockpiles. On Friday March 26th he announced that Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, had agreed to a follow-on treaty to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which was signed in 1991 and expired last December. The new deal will cut both countries' arsenals by about a third from the maximum that would have been allowed under a deal struck in 2002 between George Bush and Russia's then-president, Vladimir Putin.

Pass the Nuclear Arms Treaty - Senator John Kerry in the Boston Globe [link]

• From everything I have seen and heard, this treaty bolsters our security and merits our support.  With the help of Senator Richard Lugar, I am sure we will achieve the necessary level of certainty to reassure our colleagues and the American people that this treaty will make our world safer.

Our View: Nuclear Arms Deal With Russia Still Important - Portland Press Herald [link]

• Both the United States and Russia need to work together for non-proliferation efforts to be a success. If a weapon is likely to fall into the wrong hands, it would be likely to fall from one of these two biggest arsenals, so reducing their sizes makes sense. And by setting an example, the two former enemies will have more leverage with smaller countries that want to join the nuclear club.