A welcome arms pact.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Although flawed in certain respects, the new treaty agreed upon by the United States and Russia to reduce each nation's nuclear arsenal will make the world a safer place. For that reason alone, the treaty that President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign next week during Bush's visit to Moscow is worthy of international praise.

At its heart, the treaty - which must be ratified by the U.S. Senate and the Russian Duma - commits the two nations to reduce their nuclear weapons by two-thirds. Over the next 10 years, the number of nuclear warheads will be reduced to roughly 1,700 to 2,000 from the combined 6,000 permitted under the 1991 START agreement. Unfortunately, the Bush administration refused to agree to the destruction of the warheads. Instead, those weapons will be stored - they could be reactivated in the future or, worse, find their way into the hands of terrorists or rogue nations.

But overall, the treaty accomplishes two important goals. First, it reduces each nation's active stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. And second, it reinforces friendly relations between the two former Cold War rivals. In fact, in announcing agreement on the treaty Monday, President Bush said the pact "will liquidate the legacy of the Cold War. When I sign the treaty with President Putin in Russia, it will begin the new era of U.S.-Russian relationships."

If the United States won a victory on the issue of storing rather than destroying each country's nuclear weapons, Russia won on the point of having a formal treaty instead of what Bush preferred: a president-to-president agreement via handshake. Formalizing the agreement, including ratification by both nations' legislative bodies, will give it more permanence and prestige than it would have had otherwise. Although the agreement contains unfortunate opt-out clauses for either side, its existence should make each side reluctant to renege on its provisions.

For the Bush administration, the nuclear arms treaty breaks an alarming cycle of decisions on international matters. From abandoning an international curb on global warming and the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty to opposition to U.S. participation in an international criminal court, the administration has reinforced its mystifying - and perilous - go-it-alone attitude in world affairs. The nuclear weapons treaty counters, for now anyway, the administration's Lone Ranger image.

Russia also benefits in a practical way: The agreement allows Putin to use the money previously obligated to maintaining Cold War parity for more pressing domestic concerns. So both sides get something positive out of the treaty. The world does, too.