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The Obama Administration has delayed the Bush Administration’s plan to install an Anti-Missile system (which doesn’t work) along Russia’s western border to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (which Iran doesn’t have), armed with nuclear warheads (which Iran doesn’t have). Not deploying this system would save the US $4 billion per year and clear the way for President Obama to “convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country's stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent.”
· “We are going to re-engage Russia in a more traditional, legally binding arms reduction process. We are prepared to engage in a broader dialogue with the Russians over issues of concern to them.”-- unnamed Administration official, The Times Online, 2/4/09
· “Our American partners are ready to discuss this problem, and that’s already positive. Several months ago we were hearing different signals [from the Bush Administration]: The decision has been made, there is nothing to discuss, we will do what we have decided to do. Now I hope the situation is different.”--Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
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President Obama has signed an Executive Order rescinding Bush’s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Even more importantly, he issued a Presidential Memorandum-- restoring the role of science in making science policy.
· [Today, I am] signing a Presidential Memorandum directing the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making. To ensure that in this new Administration, we base our public policies on the soundest science; that we appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology; and that we are open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions.
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