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01-04-09 US,Russia say they want to reduce nuke warheads

The United States and Russia committed Wednesday to resetting strained relations,as presidents Barrack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev issued sweeping statements on global cooperation, including a headline-grabbing agreement to quickly negotiate a new treaty to limit nuclear weapons.As they sat down for their first face-to-face meeting, Obama and Medvedev declared in their joint statements that the "era when our countries viewed each other as enemies is long over."While agreeing to work overtime to negotiate a replacement for the seminal 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,or START,which expires at year's end, the two leaders vowed at the same time to jointly confront other perceived threats.They specifically mentioned the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea and al-Qaida militants who have found refuge in Pakistan.The statements could serve as a major boost for both Obama and Medvedev,who are new to the foreign policy proving grounds and are in need of the other's help.If Medvedev is successful,with Obama,in midwifing the birth of a new nuclear reduction treaty, he will solidify his hold on Kremlin power,where former President Vladimir Putin is perpetually looking over the shoulder of his hand-picked successor.Obama stands to gain a major ally in the foreign policy problems most vexing to his administration,particularly Iran,Afghanistan and North Korea.Konstantin Kosachyov,the Kremlin-connected head of the parliament's foreign affairs committee,said the main outcome of the meeting was that it "broke the inertia of thinking that has accumulated on both sides.""The meeting was needed to break that vicious circle,and it was absolutely successful," Kosachyov said,according to the RIA Novosti news agency