Obama in Russia

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. & Russia reached a "preliminary deal"

to cut the American and Russian nuclear arsenals by as much as a third while setting aside for further talks a dispute over U.S missile defense plans.

Most arms control agreements are either relatively meaningless feel-good fluff, or actively harmful. Fortunately this one seems to fall into the former category --as long as we don't cut anything that is really necessary -- although you never know with the Obama administration. 

Of more importance is the agreement securing U.S. transit rights through Russian territory to provide logistical support to Afghanistan, as well as a general attempt to improve U.S.-Russian relations. There's no need to go out of our way to antagonize Russia. We could use their cooperation on a number of issues, and if we can't get it, at the very least it would help if they weren't actively hostile to our interests. So despite all the over-hyped nonsense about arms control, at this point the initial results of Obama's visit appear positive.