Stardate 20020131.0653

(On Screen): President Putin wants a new arms control agreement with the US which would be "legally binding, irreversible and verifiable." In light of the US withdrawal from the ABM treaty and how Bush's announced cuts in nuclear weapons actually only meant deactivation and storage, I can understand how he might feel about that.

But I can't see how the US would ever accept such a treaty. If, for whatever reason, it should turn out that such a treaty was a big mistake, the US could end up completely trapped and possibly in peril of its existence. Given the current political climate in the US, it ain't gonna happen.