George Bush and Vladimir Putin, after months of acrimony and years of inaction, are suddenly ready to talk seriously about serious matters. We hope it is not too late, since both are nearly at the end of their presidencies. There are certainly a lot of things they need to address.
For one, nuclear weapons. Since they agreed on the 2002 Moscow Treaty - which will bring both sides down to between 1,700 and 2,200 fielded weapons - there have been no talks about any deeper cuts or reductions in the thousands of weapons they keep as back up.
For another, Mr. Putin’s authoritarian and bullying ways - at home and abroad. Mr. Bush has limited leverage, but his limitless passion for an unproven missile defense system has made it easier for the Russian leader to deflect criticism.
And then there is Iran. While the two presidents have spent months trading criticisms, Tehran has been defying the Security Council and mastering the skills it needs to make its own nuclear weapon.
The idea for a new “strategic framework” is Mr. Bush’s. He is clearly looking for a better foreign policy legacy than just the disastrous Iraq war.
Mr. Bush is especially eager to expand his grandiose vision for missile defense, including a European-based system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The technology isn’t close to being ready and will pose no threat to Russia’s huge arsenal. But that hasn’t stopped Moscow from objecting and using it as an excuse for anti-American bluster and its serial misbehavior.
Belatedly, Mr. Bush has offered concessions, like allowing Moscow to monitor the system and agreeing not to activate it until there is a verifiable threat from Iran or some other hostile state. The Russians still haven’t dropped their opposition. If Mr. Bush wants a deal now, he will have to give more, such as agreeing not to deploy interceptors until a threat is verified.
Unfortunately, Mr. Bush is not proposing deeper cuts in nuclear weapons. In a post-cold-war world it is impossible to justify the need for thousands of weapons. And Mr. Bush’s stubborn refusal gives far too many countries a further excuse to ignore Iran’s misbehavior and to justify their own nuclear appetites.
Mr. Bush should be commended for trying to put the relationship with Russia on a better track. But he waited too long to make the effort and remains too wedded to cold-war fears to chart a truly new course. The next American president will have to do a lot better.