From the Cable: The administration officials also spelled out in detail how the new treaty will deal with the thorny missile-defense issue. There will be one line in the preamble of the treaty acknowledging that there is a connection between offensive and defensive weapons, and that’s it.

There "could" be unilateral statements by each side about missile defense, the officials said, as if they weren’t sure.

"If they were done, what would happen is the Russians would recognize that if the United States missile defense capabilities grew to such an extent that it would undermine strategic stability, they would have the right to withdraw from the treaty," one official said.

"If they did release such a unilateral statement, we would issue our unilateral statement that would say our missile defenses aren’t aimed against Russia and are not intended to undermine strategic stability, but we are going to do them in cooperation with our allies irrespective of what the Russian unilateral statement says."  (photo: Russia Today)

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