Friday, February 6, 2015

What angle of the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) I and II can argue about?

At the end of the 1960s, the United States began to negotiate with the Soviet Union to reduce the buildup of ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles). The United States was concerned that the Soviet Union might be constructing defenses that would prevent a missile from reaching Moscow. The SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talk) agreement, signed in 1972 between Nixon and Brezhnev, was the first time the Soviets and the United States had agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals. Talks regarding SALT II, intended to reduce Multiple Independently Targeted Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs), began in 1972, but this treaty was never ratified (though both sides abided by its terms).


A research paper on this topic might focus on why SALT II was never ratified, as it ran into internal American opposition related to Soviet treatment of dissidents in their country. In addition, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979 derailed the SALT II talks. A paper could also discuss other sticking points related to the ratification of SALT II, including the inability of the U.S. and the Soviet Union to agree on the number of warheads and strategic bombers and disagreement about the way in which the two nations would verify that the other side was abiding by the terms of the treaty.

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