VOA标准英语2009年-US, Russian Negotiators Work on New Arms C

Arms control was one of the key issues discussed at the recent summit in Moscow between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev. We look at the preliminary agreement reached to reduce both countries' strategic - or long-range - nuclear arsenals¹.
　
President Barack Obama and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, right, before they signed a preliminary agreement in Moscow, 06 Jul 2009

Presidents Obama and Medvedev agreed on the basic terms of a treaty to replace the START One accord that expires December 5.

The START One treaty was negotiated in the 1980s, signed in 1991 by U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush and Soviet² leader Mikhail Gorbachev and came into force in 1994. It is one of the most complex treaties in history dealing³ with reducing nuclear weapons.

Daryll Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, a private, independent organization, describes the current strategic nuclear arsenals of both countries.

"The United States claims that it has 2,200 strategic nuclear warheads deployed⁴. Those are deployed on approximately 1,100 strategic delivery systems - land-based, sea-based missiles and heavy bombers⁵. Russia's numbers are a little different. Russia has approximately 2,600-2,700 deployed strategic warheads right now, but on a much smaller number of delivery systems - probably around the 700 delivery system range," said Kimball.

Leaders agree to reduce stockpiles

Steve Andreasen, a national security and arms control expert at the University of Minnesota, says Presidents Obama and Medvedev agreed to lower those numbers.

"They agreed that in terms of strategic nuclear warheads to be limited, the two sides would basically work to get to a range of 1,500 to 1,675 warheads on both sides. And they also agreed that on the question of limiting nuclear delivery vehicles, they would agree to limitations in a range between 500 and 1,100," said Andreasen. "And so by agreeing to set those ranges, they've given their negotiators a sense of direction and also a sense of what the outcome needs to be in terms of acceptable parameters⁶ for this new follow-on accord."

Many experts, including Marshall Goldman from Harvard University, say the agreement reached in Moscow is modest.

"The important thing is that they had an agreement so that the whole issue did not blow up, so to speak," said Goldman. "Because if they hadn't reached an agreement, then the whole thing couldn't have been resolved and we could have found ourselves back with an arms race, which would not be, I think, in the interest of either country. So modest - but at least keep the thing going."

Despite the fact that both sides reached a preliminary accord, experts say much needs to be done to overcome obstacles to reaching a mutually-acceptable arms control treaty.

Steve Andreasen says there are a number of stumbling blocks, starting with which verification provisions of the START-One treaty will be incorporated in the new accord.

"And then secondly⁷, the negotiators have been given instructions as to how many warheads and how many launchers to be counted in this new agreement - that is a range between 500 and 1,100 launchers and 1,500 to 1,675 warheads," he added. "But how you actually count to get to those numbers, that is what they call the 'counting rules' in arms control: how many warheads will be attributed to launchers and what launchers to count - that is those that are only operationally deployed or potentially others - those are still issues to be worked out in the negotiations⁸."

New treaty to be ready by December

Arms control negotiators are racing⁹ against the clock to get the new treaty done by the December 5 deadline. Andreasen says to enter into force the new pact¹⁰ will have to be ratified¹¹ by the Russian parliament - or Duma - and the U.S. Senate.

"The timeline is extremely short in terms of completing a new follow-on agreement. And then, for example in the United States, having the Senate hold hearings in the relevant committees and actually have a vote on ratification¹²," said Andreasen. "And in order to get that done by December, you might hypothesize that a new accord would have to be concluded say no later than late September or early October. So that's a tall order."

Daryll Kimball from the Arms Control Association says it is doubtful the ratification deadlines will be met.

"And so that will mean that they will have to, at a later point, negotiate some sort of bridging arrangement to make sure that essential verification and monitoring provisions from the 1991 START treaty continue until such time as a new agreement - the START follow-on - enters into force," said Kimball.

Experts say another possibility would simply be to extend the START One treaty, which will be eventually superseded¹³ by the new accord when it is completed.

1 arsenals   

n.兵工厂，军火库( arsenal的名词复数 )；任何事物的集成

参考例句：

• We possess-each of us-nuclear arsenals capable of annihilating humanity. 我们两国都拥有能够毁灭全人类的核武库。 来自辞典例句
• Arsenals are factories that produce weapons. 军工厂是生产武器的工厂。 来自互联网

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

5 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。

7 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

8 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

9 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

10 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

11 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

12 ratification   

n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• The treaty is awaiting ratification.条约正等待批准。
• The treaty is subject to ratification.此条约经批准后才能生效。

13 superseded   

[医]被代替的，废弃的

参考例句：

• The theory has been superseded by more recent research. 这一理论已为新近的研究所取代。
• The use of machinery has superseded manual labour. 机器的使用已经取代了手工劳动。