Great leaders have emerged onto the world stage that Wilson helped build when he created the League of Nations. From Dag Hammarskjold to our friend in New York right now, Kofi Annan, these humanitarians and others have helped our world by expanding the legacy of Woodrow Wilson. This has become exceedingly difficult in a world of increasing change. Staggering change is taking place in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. This Center is a terrific forum for grasping this change.
Skeptics deride arms control as antiquated.
On the contrary, arms control has helped lock-in agreed, verifiable constraints on U.S. and Soviet, and now Russian, strategic nuclear capabilities. It is an idea that has worked, continues to work, and that will work tomorrow. Presidents Clinton and Putin discussed strategic arms control at great length during the Moscow Summit. They signed a joint statement on strategic stability, reflecting our shared interest in preserving strategic nuclear stability and mutual deterrence. The second, critical component in our helping to avoid a return to the nuclear brink is in our joint work reducing proliferation threats.