U.S. and Russia: Agreeing not to disagree

According to media reports, the United States and Russia were close to signing an agreement on missile defense cooperation on the margins of the G-8 summit meeting in May. The details of the proposal are not public, but the disappointment over not achieving the agreement is.

It’s true that not since the failure at the Reykjavik summit 25 years ago to stem deployment of offensive nuclear missiles in Europe have Russia and the United States faced off on such a serious arms issue. But let’s get a grip. It’s not 1986, and America and Russia are not squared off in a nuclear stalemate. We’re discussing defensive missiles—not offensive ones. And we’re discussing cooperation—not confrontation. Or at least we could be.

The public is not privy to the details of the recently aborted agreement, but there’s so much confusion over terms like ‘‘joint’’ and ‘‘sectors’’ and misunderstanding of actual system capabilities that it’s a wonder we can even schedule a meeting in which to disagree. ...

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