This winter a senior delegation from the Russian Defense Ministry arrived in Vienna for a closed-door meeting with American experts. The two main authors of the New START treaty, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov and US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, met for the first time since the treaty entered into force. The discussion was confidential and fairly somber. One of the key questions on the table was, is there still a chance of finding some common ground on missile defense? Or has the time come to recognize that the negotiations have reached a dead end?