ABSTRACT

Progress toward a strategic arms reduction treaty Treaty would be an important demonstration that the United States and the Soviet Union were meeting their Article VI obligations. Improved US-Soviet relations have greatly improved prospects for super-power arms control, which can, in turn, be expected to strengthen the non-proliferation regime. Dramatically improving relations between Washington and Moscow and the rapid decline of Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe have influenced virtually every aspect of international affairs. India, for example, has included substantial reductions in American and Soviet nuclear arsenals among its conditions for accepting formal nuclear restraints. In South Asia, some observers had anticipated that the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan might open the door to intensified nuclear non-proliferation diplomacy by one or both of the superpowers aimed at dampening the growing nuclear rivalry between India and Pakistan. Joint superpower efforts also could be useful in slowing Iraq’s efforts to revitalize its nuclear weapons effort.