Missile mayhem and antimissile angst: From reset to retro in U.S.-Russian security relations

The political context for nuclear arms reductions, as between the United States and Russia, seemed to stall in 2012 and appeared uncertain as to possible progress during the second term of U.S. President Barack Obama and the third term of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The prospect of a successor agreement to New START that would reduce the numbers of U.S.- and Russian-deployed strategic nuclear weapons to even lower levels was further clouded by Russian objections to U.S. and NATO plans to deploy missile defenses in Europe. The present study considers the political and military aspects of some prospective Obama approaches to post-New START nuclear arms reductions and performs pertinent analysis to consider the relationship between offensive nuclear arms reductions and missile defenses going forward.