President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, during their Summit meeting in the previous week, signed a ‘Joint Understanding’ to reduce their deployed nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads and 500 to 1,000 delivery vehicles. They pledged to continue their aggressive efforts to replace the 1991 arms control pact that is scheduled to expire on December 5. However, reports noted that the effort could face challenges from the Senate Republicans, who are insisting that a new push on arms control must go hand-in-hand with a program for updating US nuclear arsenal and a strengthened resolve to deploy missile shield technology in Europe1.

• 1. “START Could Expire Before Replacement Approved,” July 13, 2009, at http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090713_3393.php