The U.S. and Russia have been going through some major talks about nuclear issues over the past few months, and several times along the way other issues, like the Copenhagen summit or arguments about missile placements or Afghanistan have gotten in the way or delayed negotiations, but now a senior U.S. arms control official says that the two nations are “really close” to agreement.

What does “really close” actually mean? Well, that part we can’t be sure of. What we can be sure of is that this is getting a lot of press and is something that both countries want to do, so we can assume that they are certainly making progress and that something will happen in the near future. Good.

The proliferation of nuclear arms is ridiculous, and getting rid of more of them is something long overdue. After the buildup in the Cold War, we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the entire Earth many times over. No need to have them sitting around. Consider it green job training to get rid of and dismantle them.

The START I treaty we are working off now is from the Cold War era, and the two countries will be resuming negotiations in Geneva come January 25th.

While “really close” implies that signing a treaty is imminent, the truth is that there are hurdles still to be met and discussions still to be had.

"Nobody's expectation ever was that this was going to be a lay-up," said a lead negotiator, referring to the failure to reach a final deal during the December negotiations. I think they were just distracted and didn’t want to finish that one up right before the Copenhagen summit.

Russia’s Prime Minister Putin says that the missile placements along the western border area of Russia are the main issue standing in the way of a treaty- kind of like a Cuban missile crisis in reverse. Obama got rid of some missile plans last year, hoping to get Russia on our side on this one.

"If you and the Russians control 95 percent of the nuclear weapons and you're not reducing, you're going to weaken your hand if you're pressing for tighter measures,” said Steven Pifer, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, referring to U.S. efforts to get international agreement for countries to all reduce their nuclear weapons and presence- not to mention the hard line against Iran or North Korea ever getting nuclear weapons they can or could use.

I think this is a no brainer- there is no longer a need to threaten the Earth with nuclear war- we already have a unifying cause to fight against- climate change. Why not put all of our efforts toward that? Why would we need to flex nuclear muscles against each other? This is no longer the nuclear center stage wrestling match that once was raging as the world watched. At this point, both countries have much to gain from showing that they are committed to peace, disarmament, and reducing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Why not make it happen, guys? Make “really close” done.

Photo Credit: jmtimages (via Flickr under CCL)