In an under-reported act, President Obama achieved a major international feat yesterday by achieving an agreement with President Medvedev of Russia to trim by 1/3 the nuclear arsenals of the two largest nuclear powers on Earth. On the 6:30 news programs it ranked about sixth in line, behind Sarah Palin and Senator McCain, violence against congressional leaders by nutcases, and the latest results from the NCAA tournament. But in reality, it was a huge diplomatic achievement.
Granted, both nations agreed to trim their arsenals from 2,200 weapons to “only” 1,500, but it was a significant symbolic act on the part of the two nations in terms of global political issues. It made it possible to put nuclear disarmament on the table at a time when concern about the potential entry of Iran into the nuclear family threatens an already-anxious global society. It would be very difficult to restrict Iran’s development of a nuclear arsenal without being sacrificial in terms of our own.
In a kind of crazy, ironic appraisal of the nuclear family’s situation, it is notable that the two nations’ agreement leaves 3,100 weapons in the hands of the two superpowers and ready to be deployed if necessary. It only took two atomic bombs to devastate the Japanese empire and bring them to submission in 1945. In the minds of many of us the existence of even one nuclear weapon is threatening enough to the continued existence of human life on this planet.
But the reality is that the nuclear family is not limited to the two superpowers who had a telephone conversation to firm up the agreement yesterday. Countries known to hold nuclear weapons include several that are known by the term “fragile,” including Pakistan. The potential that nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of al Qaida is devastating.
Politically, the achievement of accord between the two Presidents signals a response to those who have scorned President Obama’s ability to be a major player internationally. Several seemingly-false starts gave fodder to those who see him as a novice in the world of diplomacy. While he is revered throughout the world as one with nearly iconic, rock-star status, his detractors have derided his ability to bring home a diplomatic victory in the first year of his presidency. This nuclear disarmament agreement, to be signed later this Spring in a European meeting, silences that conversation.
Following on the passage of the nation’s first major Health Care legislation in over fifty years, President Obama’s governance credentials have improved dramatically in the matter of one week.
Photo Credit: world politics review
