Nuclear arms still locked and loaded

Leaders of Russia and the United States are set to sign a new treaty in Prague on Thursday to reduce their nuclear arsenals, according to media reports. The plan is for each nation to reduce their active nuclear warheads to 1,500.

The international community believes that these two nations, who combined possess over 90 percent of all nuclear weapons in the world, bear unavoidable responsibilities for complete nuclear disarmament. But even after this treaty is signed, I can hardly say with any confidence that the role of nuclear weapons in the US and Russian security strategies has fundamentally changed.

It also seems like the US and Russia want to ease any pressure on them from the international community by signing the treaty before this month's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, which is held every five years.