Israel, itself the possessor of a nuclear arsenal of unknown size, is also watching closely and is quite capable of taking unilateral action if it feels threatened as the destruction of the Iraqi reactor in 1981 showed.

BBC: Nuclear threat casts global shadow

Cutting the size of the nuclear arsenal to a small fraction of its Cold War size and focusing on terrorists rather than state-based threats may seem sensible in the present environment, but the decisions the administration is making will have consequences for decades after it leaves office.

FORBES: Nuclear Weapons: How Few Is Too Few?

In other words, the Russians are going to undergo a substantial contraction in the size of its strategic nuclear arsenal, whether we do or not.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

He directed a Nuclear Policy Review that committed the government to reducing the role of nuclear weapons in national strategy, scaling back the size of the strategic arsenal, and continuing a 20-year moratorium on production of new nuclear warheads.

FORBES: Nuclear Paradox: Shrinking U.S. Arsenal Requires Huge New Expenditures

In today's world -- to say nothing of tomorrow's -- these are going to be driven by more multifaceted considerations than simply the size of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

America has also been pruning the weapons held in reserve for spares: its nuclear arsenal will by 2012 be less than a quarter its size at the end of the cold war.

ECONOMIST: Nuclear disarmament