US-Soviet Negotiations: Problems and Prospects

The United States and the Soviet Union are negotiating in the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) for the limitation and reduction of strategic weaponry. The process is proceeding very slowly, and evidently the George Bush Administration has set priorities on reduction in conventional arms ahead of reduction in strategic arms. Nevertheless, a 450-page Joint Draft Text (JDT) exists, with disagreements ‘bracketed’. The content of the negotiating positions has been described in other chapters in this volume and hence will not be summarised here.1