START III:

As Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton had agreed in June, talks on a third strategic-arms-reduction treaty opened last week, even though Russia has never ratified the START II treaty and shows no inclination to do so. The Russians used the talks to object to U.S. efforts to develop a theater missile-defense system and to propose a ban on sea-launched cruise missiles, which the United States has employed with great success in the Gulf War and subsequently.