Obama, Medvedev Declare Commitment to "Work Together in the Spirit of the START Treaty"

Stories we're following today:

Obama, Medvedev Issue START Statement - Laura Rozen in Politico [link]

• Hours before a nuclear warhead reduction treaty expires, Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev have issued a joint statement declaring their intention to observe its spirit until the new agreement is signed.
• The Arms Control Association's Daryl Kimball characterized the joint statement as a "bridging statement that recognizes the value of START, their intention to continue operating in its spirit after December 5 and until the new START agreement is negotiated and enters into force."
  
  

House to Vote on New Iran Sanctions - Politico [link]

• House Democratic leaders are planning to move forward with a bill imposing tough new sanctions on Iran before the holiday recess, according to Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the bill’s author.
• The legislation seeks to cut supplies of refined petroleum products, especially gasoline, into Iran as a means of convincing that regime to end its nuclear weapons programs. Additional sanctions would be imposed on foreign exchange, banking and property transactions, including any organization that does business with the Central Bank of Iran.

Pruning the Nuclear Triad? Pros and Cons of Bombers, Missiles, and Submarines - Kingston Reif, Travis Sharp, and Kirk Bansak of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferations [link]

• As the United States and Russia negotiate bilateral reductions in nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles, attention must be paid to the composition of each country’s strategic arsenal of nuclear-armed bombers, land-based missiles, and submarine-based missiles.
• To understand the stability that arms control helps foster and that makes the United States safer, one must consider the arguments traditionally made about the strengths and weaknesses of each leg of the nuclear triad.