ABSTRACT
Geography and nuclear arms control might seem an Odd match in subject matter. But there are a number of aspects of nuclear arms control, including proliferation, arms reductions, and missile defenses that are embedded in geostrategic assumptions and perspectives. During the Cold War at various times, both the United States and Russia considered whether nuclear weapons would enable either side to deliver a knockout blow against the opponent's military forces and/or society. Submarines capable of firing nuclear armed ballistic or cruise missiles require much of the same tactical and operational flexibility as do those equipped with only conventional weapons. Eventually negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union codified this counter intuitive relationship, between nuclear offenses and antinuclear defenses, into an arms control agreement, It remained as one of the diplomatic benchmarks between the Cold War nuclear superpowers, along with the original Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the various Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty and Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty agreements.
