The Russians oppose any revision of the ABM treaty, regarded as the foundation of all arms control efforts. The U.S. and Russia each had more than 10,000 strategic nuclear warheads at the beginning of the decade. The ex-Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakstan have disposed of warheads they inherited. The U.S. Senate's Oct. 1999 decision to reject the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty angered Russia, already upset at American plans to push for revisions to the 1972 ABM treaty. Russia responded with several tests of its aging missile arsenal.
Computers now track uranium and plutonium stockpiles.
Further reductions may not depend on arms treaties. Russia can't afford to maintain their current arsenal. The U.S. has shifted military priorities back to conventional arms. It is a fantasy, and a dangerous one. It may, someday, be possible to knock down a few missiles before they strike at U.S. cities.