leaderships, who have seen the folly of nuclear escalation and have started tracing the outlines of a pattern of disarmament. In our view, the INF Treaty is notable not so much for the few thousand missiles that are to be dismantled as a result of its provisions, but for the historical beginning it made, away from the old approach of seeking to manage an escalating arms race and, we hope, towards halting and reversing it. The INF Treaty was a historical departure in erasing a complete class of weapon systems for the first time. It demonstrated the principle, even if in limited form, that the road to enhanced security lies through nuclear disarmament and not through accumulation of nuclear weaponry. We look forward to the signing of the START agreement between the United States and the USSR later this year in the hope that it will pave the way for all States to join in the process of nuclear disarmament and thus enable the world to move in the not too distant future towards the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The process and logic of nuclear disarmament in one field should be extended energetically to other fields. For instance, the logic of the INF Treaty and the forthcoming START agreement dictates that the thousands of tactical weapons that still exist - and for that matter all nuclear weapons - must also follow the route of abolition. The positive momentum generated by international events today CD/PV.548 15 (Mr. Sharma. India) should not be allowed to dissipate, and the historic opportunity of ridding our planet of the apocalyptic menace of nuclear weapons should be seized purposefully. The validity of nuclear weapons cannot be justified on the basis of doctrines of nuclear deterrence and the claim that nuclear weapons have 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the INF Treaty and the START agreement, highlighting the importance of nuclear disarmament and the elimination of nuclear weapons. It emphasizes the need to extend the logic of disarmament to other fields and seize the opportunity to rid the planet of the threat of nuclear weapons. The text does not mention any specific economic, environmental, or social issues related to disarmament, but rather focuses on the international relations and security aspects of nuclear weapons.

**Category**
International relations, Science and technology