The Triumph of Pragmatism and Reason

After weeks of delay, the ratification by the U.S. Senate of the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty constitutes a historic victory for Barack Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2009. No Democratic president has ever convinced Congress to adopt such a fundamental document on nuclear disarmament. If Barack Obama has long nurtured a hope of a denuclearized world, the strong support of the military establishment and of notable figures like Henry Kissinger and Condoleezza Rice has not been amiss. The president will need to turn to a policy of pragmatism — reinforced, paradoxically, by his defeat in the midterm elections — to persuade a handful of Republicans to stop playing around with major international issues.

The New START treaty, negotiated for months in Geneva through American and Russian missions, bridges a dangerous void. For a year, the two great nuclear powers have had no mechanism of verifying the other’s arsenal, the former treaty having expired on Dec. 5, 2009. The treaty also conveys two important messages. The two powers, which together harbor 95 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads, announced a firm, if modest, commitment toward a 30 percent reduction in nuclear forces over the course of the next seven years. In preaching by example, Washington and Moscow urge evolving nuclear powers such as Iran and China to discontinue their perilous courses toward nuclear weapons.

The New START treaty, which should be ratified easily by the Duma in the next few days, is capable of reviving the dynamic of disarmament. It could push Washington to ratify a complete ban on nuclear tests and remove for the next several centuries the tactical arms it has installed in Europe. It could also galvanize new negotiations on conventional forces in the context of an evolving European concept of security.

The ratification of the New START, which perpetuates a policy of arms control largely developed in the wake of the Cold War, finally allows the “spirit of Lisbon” to push NATO and Russia toward the historic cooperation pledged in the Portuguese capital.