Helping Russia to disarm

U.S. President Bill Clinton had little to say about the world in his recent, annual State of the Union address, when he laid out his vision of the coming year for America. The U.S. and free- world leader spent about 15 minutes on the world and more than four times that amount on America.

Of course, it is troubling that America's leader was so stingy with U.S. foreign policy time in such an important speech. But it was nice to see that he took the time to press strongly for renewal of the disarmament aid program to Russia and other former Soviet republics. The program has cost America US$2 billion over the past eight years since it was initiated by president George Bush. It has been a success from all angles.

During the late and unlamented Cold War, Washington and the Soviet Union spent literally trillions of dollars to build and defend against nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The two were locked into an arms escalation that also locked in other nations. In the end, it was so expensive that the Soviet Union collapsed, unable to keep up with yet another generation of sophisticated weapons.

With the ideological war over between the two giants, they still have a clear responsibility to prevent the use of any of the terrible weapons that they created. The U.S. money helps to redirect the work of Russian scientists from weapons research to peacetime pursuits. The greatest fear among those trying to stop weapons proliferation is that rogue states will buy expertise and smuggled material from impoverished Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states.

The U.S. aid is vital. A typical job made possible by the aid is to fund start-up projects for Russian scientists. That way, they can keep their respect, hold their lives together and not sell nuclear secrets or material out of economic desperation.

-- The Bangkok Post