Now it is clear that the official reset...

The treaty, on the other hand, is practically ready, although it is not yet entirely clear how soon it will be ratified by the U.S. Senate. By mutual agreement, the treaty will be forwarded to parliaments simultaneously, immediately after it is signed. In the United States, many irritated Senators will oppose it.

Details are known only in general outline, but all 41 Senators have already qualified their approval of the agreement with two "ifs." They will ratify it if the administration: 1) upgrades U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles and 2) abolishes the linkage between nuclear offensive weapons and missile defenses. If the former is somehow achievable, the latter will require amendments to the treaty, something Moscow is unlikely to accept.

By way of compromise, Moscow had to agree to a rather symbolic link between nuclear potential and missile defenses outlined in the treaty. In place of a clear-cut ban on the improvement of strategic missile defenses (which Moscow

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