Tentative Inspection Program Would Allow Russia to Visit U.S. Nuclear Sites

Tentative Inspection Program Would Allow Russia to Visit U.S. Nuclear Sites

Russia and the United States have tentatively agreed to a weapons inspection program that would allow Russians to visit nuclear sites in America to count missiles and warheads.

The plan, which Fox News has learned was agreed to in principle during negotiations, would constitute the most intrusive weapons inspection program the U.S. has ever accepted.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said publicly Tuesday that the two nations have made "considerable" progress toward reaching agreement on a new strategic arms treaty.

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires in December and negotiators have been racing to reach agreement on a successor.

Clinton said the U.S. would be as transparent as possible.

www.foxnews.com...

Well this is just peachy.

I am sorry, but this is just plain stupid,

"We want to ensure that every question that the Russian military or Russian government asks is answered," she said, calling missile defense "another area for deep cooperation between our countries."

On another critical issue, Lavrov declared that it would be counterproductive to threaten Iran with more sanctions over its nuclear program -- as he resisted efforts by Clinton to win agreement for tougher measures should Iran fail to prove its program is peaceful.

These idiots are going to get us all killed.



[edit on 033131p://bWednesday2009 by Stormdancer777]

Does it really matter? Nuclear power is an extremely sensitive topic, one that requires international cooperation.

If we can demand to inspect other countries nuclear power plants, it only makes sense that they can visit ours.

This comes in light of the final phase of Detente between the United States and the Russian Commonwealth of States.

Already, under current Treaty, the Russians ship their decommissioned nuclear weapons to Texas to be dismantled. Both sides have reduced their respective arsenals to under 10,000 warheads each.

Currently on the table, between these two nations, is a Treaty that would call for those arsenals to be further reduced to no more than 1,600 warheads each.

Both sides may continue to harbor mistrust of one another, as we once were Cold War enemies, and we may not even see eye to eye currently, but the hostilities are long over, and like it or not, Russia is now an Ally and may even be joining NATO and is in talks with the EU currently.

If we want to continue friendly relations, and see a further end to mutual nuclear disarmament, then it is requisite that both sides are willing to be open enough with one another to allow inspections to ensure that the decommissioned Russian warheads are indeed being dismantled in Texas and not added to the United States arsenal, and that we have been living up to our end of the bargain in dismantling our own. It's all comes down to a matter of trust and cooperation.

Personally, I see no harm in doing such and think it's actually a step in the right direction. We may have issues with how Russia is treating Georgia at the moment, but that doesn't mean we can't remain united in our mutual nuclear disarmament. We owe it to our children and our children's children to do whatever it takes to continue down that same path we've been on since the late 1980's in mutual disarmament to give them a nuclear free future.