Arms Control: Off to a Bad START?

Off to a Bad START?

The two new chief negotiators seemed almost chummy when the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks resumed in Geneva last week. U.S. envoy Richard Burt joked about the danger of falling asleep due to jet lag, and his Soviet counterpart, Yuri Nazarkin, quipped that he had not yet mastered the jargon of arms control. Then, as talks progressed, Burt put forth a surprising proposal that threatened to sour the mood.

The U.S. insisted that unprecedented U.S. inspections of Soviet nuclear weaponry -- to test techniques for monitoring Moscow's compliance with the proposed START accord -- take place even before any such treaty is...

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