U.S.-Russian treaty on weapons is good news

In recent years, the global political landscape has changed drastically. This is nothing new really. Power and boundaries have been in more or less constant change ever since the first tribal chieftain notched a tree to claim sovereign rights to a particular piece of territory.

But our freshest memories are of those events that have occurred only recently, and the changes we have seen in the former Soviet Union have been nothing short of astonishing.

With those changes have come an easing of tension between two nuclear powers. The Cold War, the experts tell us, is over. But the fact remains that both the United States and Russia have huge nuclear arsenals capable of total destruction in both directions.

When the United States announced that it was calling an end to a key arms treaty on anti-ballistic missiles because one of the parties -- the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics -- no longer exists, there was some consternation and uneasiness.

Some of that concern, at least, has been put aside now that President Bush and Russia's President Vladimir Putin are ready to sign a new treaty. Under the terms of this new agreement, both sides will pledge to reduce their nuclear weaponry substantially, even though both sides will be left with enough firepower to destroy one another.

The treaty is to be signed Friday when Bush visits Moscow during his week-long European trip. The United States, with about 6,000 strategic nuclear weapons, will agree to reduce that number to 1,700. And Russia, with some 5,500 nuclear weapons, will cut back to 2,200.

The deadline to make the cuts is 10 years off. It is no secret that other nations have the capability of making nuclear weapons. How these countries might choose to use their small but deadly arsenals is difficult to ascertain, but it remains a dark cloud on the whole issue of nuclear warfare.

Even though Bush and Putin are ready to sign this new treaty, final action remains in the hands of the U.S. Senate, which must ratify the treaty. Officials in the Bush administration say the support is there for ratification. But even clear-cut objectives can get quickly muddled in the political process.

The good news about this treaty may not be its particulars -- although, as treaties go, it is one of the simplest ever devised, running no more than three pages. The good news may be that Washington and Moscow are maintaining open lines of communications and a cordial relationship that will allow future discussions about avoiding nuclear mass destruction.

As long as these two powers continue to talk, there is some comfort that the leaders on both sides are keenly interested in peace. That is a good sign and one that deserves encouragement and support.