Moral High Ground of US and Russia

The artical "US and Russia announce deal to cut nuclear weapons" in BBC News catch my interest.
US and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, finally agree to reduce the nuclear weapons. They are going to sign the treaty this April. US President Barack Obama said that it is the most comprehensive weapons agreement since first Treaty issued in 1991. This is a signal from the two leading countries to stop spreading of nuclear weapons and force countries with the weapon to follow. According to the new treaty, both US and Russia have to limit the amount of nuclear weapons, missiles and bombers. For example, nuclear weapons is limited to a maximum of 1,550. That means US has to cut around 25%, while Russia has to cut around 30%. It is estimated that it takes around seven years in reduction. Last year US president expressed his vision of getting rid of nuclear weapons. Therefore, this year is “The timing and symbolism of the deal are crucial, enabling both countries to claim some moral high ground going into next month's Washington Summit on nuclear security,” (π21). Moreover, US and Russia expect that the issuing will forces countries having the weapons, especially Iran, to stop develop nuclear weapons as well.

In my opinion, the agreement is a method that US use to suppress terrorism because US expects that the treaty will forces the enemies that US call Axis of Evil which consist of Iraq, Iran, North Korea to stop developing nuclear weapons. US think that these countries threaten to US’s security by supporting the terrorist. Therefore, US uses every measures to deal with these countries. We know that since the Cold War Era, US and Russia were the most powerful countries in the world. They tried to balance their power in every aspects for example science, economy, society, and politics. Developing Nuclear weapons is a line that they highly competed. This leads both countries to be the two largest nuclear powers in current world. I also think it is a good sign that both countries seriously manage with the issue and we know that last year US president announced to make the world has no nuclear weapons. In my opinion, the agreement make both US and Russia portray themselves as being anti-nuclear weapon by taking moral high ground of not agreeing with having the weapons. I think that this agreement cannot reducing a lot of their weapons in the countries. According to the news, US has more than 2,000 deployed strategic nuclear weapons, while Russia has more than 2,500, and the limitation is to reach 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear weapons. We know that there are many issues that need cooperation from countries across the world. But US neglects to follow such as carbon emission. It seem like she creates double standard that make other countries unsatisfied. However, no countries can deal with US because she is the only powerful country in our world now.

"US and Russia announce deal to cut nuclear weapons"(March 26, 2010), The BBC News, Retrieved March 27, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8589385.stm