Introduction

The future of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), the arms control agreement that has served as the foundation of military confidence and transparency on the European continent since the end of the Cold War, is in doubt due to a long-standing impasse among the States Parties to the Treaty.  The impasse stands in contrast to the progress on nuclear arms, most notably the US-Russia negotiations that led to the signing of a new Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty at Prague in April, 2010.

Background

The goal of the CFE Treaty was to reduce the spectre of military aggression in an area of application that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains, the region of the world that had the highest concentration of military equipment during the Cold War.  The Treaty had its origins in the long-running Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction negotiations that emerged out of the period of detente in the early 1970s.