It Is a Good START

When President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev shook hands and signed their giant treaties, it was the beginning of a new START.

OK, let’s put the puns aside, at least for now, and get to the real deal.

No, it's not the first nuclear non-proliferation treaty between the United States and a Russian country, but every time it is a step in the direction of peace.

In the 1970s when SALT I and SALT II were signed by presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter of the United States and Leonid Brezhnev, the leader of the Soviet Union, what followed was what is known as détente - the start of relaxed tensions between the US and USSR during the 1970s until around 1980, when Ronald Reagan took office.

Reagan began spending and building up, disregarding the SALT treaties (only one of which was ratified by the US Senate).

The original START I and START II agreements signed in 1991 and 1993 by the US and USSR nd the US and Russia continued a slow trend of nuclear non-proliferation that had basically been forgotten at the time START I expired in 2009.

This new treaty is a giant leap in the right direction that we haven't seen since SALT I and is in a league all of its own.

The SORT Treaty that President Putin and Bush signed in 2002, really was just "sort" of a treaty (had to bring the puns back) because it's limitations were very weak. However, this new treaty actually gets something done and actually sets stringent limitations.

Here are the facts:
The new agreement ensures that each country limit their nuclear arsenals to 1,550 ICBMs (inter-continental ballistic missiles) and SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), which is about three-quarters lower than the 1991 START Treaty and 30% lower than the 2002 SORT Agreement.

The new agreement will also limit, to 800, the number of deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments. A separate limit of 700 deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments will also be enforced.

If the treaty is ratified (please, oh please, oh please) the countries will have to meet these numbers within seven years and the treaty will last ten years, however there is an option to extend the treaty to 15 years with approval of each country.

This treaty is substantial and is proof that maybe there is light at the end of the "world without nuclear arms" tunnel.