#3
New York Times
October 22, 2001
Editorial
Edging Toward a Deal With Moscow
President Bush came away from the Shanghai summit meeting of Asian and Pacific leaders with broad backing for diplomatic and financial moves against terrorism but shallow support for American military action in Afghanistan. The most important development, though, may have been Mr. Bush's talks with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, which brought the two leaders closer to outlining a new strategic relationship.
The two sides need to keep working on a package deal that would include offensive nuclear weapons cuts, changes in the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty and more cordial ties between NATO and Russia. Washington should be more realistic about a missile shield. The Pentagon remains far from having perfected a workable defensive system and the most immediate threat to the nation comes from terrorists, not nations with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Russia, with about 6,000 decaying and expensive warheads, would like to drop down to 1,500 or lower. The Pentagon, with about 7,000 warheads, may now be willing to bring the American arsenal down close to that level. Russia would prefer to see offensive reductions carried out in the context of a formal arms control agreement, while Washington does not want to bind itself to a new treaty so it can build additional warheads later if the need arises. Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin need to converge on a middle ground that packages offensive cuts and understandings about missile defense in an official communique or other written agreement that leaves both sides feeling secure. The new arrangements should include provisions that would make future expansions of NATO more palatable to Moscow and leave open the possibility of Russia's joining the alliance at some future date.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin were clearly not on the same page yesterday when they discussed missile defenses at a joint news conference. Mr. Bush called the ABM treaty "outdated" and "dangerous" while Mr. Putin described it as essential to maintaining nuclear stability. Nevertheless, both men left open the possibility of narrowing their differences, and Mr. Putin seemed hopeful that agreement could be reached on altering the treaty in ways that would permit more ambitious American testing of missile defense systems. Mr. Bush should resist pressure from within his administration to move toward withdrawing from the treaty by the end of the year. Much of the testing needed to develop a workable missile shield can be carried out within the ABM treaty, and surely the treaty can be amended to permit a more expansive testing program in the future.
One of the pleasant surprises of the Bush presidency has been the rapid development of a productive relationship with Russia. It has already paid clear dividends in Moscow's contributions since Sept. 11 to the campaign against terrorism. The next step is to produce a new framework for managing American and Russian nuclear weapons.
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