Likewise, the question today is not whether we should have a nuclear arms agreement--clearly, we should--but rather what kind of agreement it should be.
Despite accusations of partisanship, the Republicans who voted against the test ban treaty last week did so because they believed that it was unenforceable and potentially dangerous.
Maybe it would have been better simply to scuttle the vote in order to save face. Maybe the treaty should even have been ratified as a symbolic statement of American leadership in nuclear deescalation; it is, after all, better than nothing.
But it is unfair to suggest that the Senate did not take a principled stand on the matter. Instead of casting blame, we should take this opportunity to figure out what kind of arms agreement will meaningfully safeguard the peaceful interests of the United States and the world in the years to come.
Kevin A. Shapiro '00
Oct. 18, 1999