Nuclear arms reduction is better than nuclear warfare

Today President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed a nuclear arms reduction pact that slightly limits each country’s stockpile, reinstates inspections, and restores relations between the two countries. This is good news. Nuclear warfare is not sustainable.

The New York Times explains how it works. Money quote:

While the treaty will mandate only modest reductions in the actual arsenals maintained by the two countries, it caps a turnaround in relations with Moscow that sunk to rock bottom in August 2008 during the war between Russia and its tiny southern neighbor, Georgia. When he arrived in office, Mr. Obama made restoring the relationship a priority, a goal that coincided with his vision expressed here a year ago of eventually ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

Fred Kaplan at Slate also has clear analysis, including why Republican senators would be nuts to refuse to ratify the deal.