Below the radar of saving the global economy, President Obama was working in London this week to keep the world from blowing itself up with nuclear weapons.
A meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev produced a joint statement that the two countries will begin negotiations to reduce arsenals in anticipation of an Obama visit to Moscow this summer.
Unlike George W. Bush’s 2001 first encounter with Vladimir Putin, Obama did not look into Medvedev’s eyes to get “a sense of his soul” but held a businesslike meeting to lay the groundwork to extend and strengthen the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires in December.
Nuclear arms control has changed since the Cold War days and, like the economy, is complicated by players beyond the two former superpowers who now have to deal with other nations who have them (China, India, Pakistan et al) as well as non-proliferation to those who want them, such as Iran and North Korea.
The complexity can be seen in the mixed feelings of Japan, the only nation in history to suffer nuclear attack…