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December 24, 2010

And the reason it was so critical for US diplomacy and Obama's standing to rush the START treaty through the lame duck session is ... ?

Topics: Political News and commentaries

As quiped over at Ace's ... explain to me again why it was so critical for US diplomacy and Obama's standing to rush New START through the lame duck session -- in light of this?

Russian lawmakers gave preliminary approval Friday to an arms agreement with the United States, but signaled they would slow progress on the so-called New START treaty to a crawl after it was rushed through Congress earlier this week with some 11th-hour arm-twisting by President Obama.

The treaty cleared an initial hurdle through Moscow's lower house of parliament, but a senior lawmaker said the treaty won't get full approval until at least next month.

Konstantin Kosachev, head of the State Duma's foreign affairs committee, said that the treaty would need a total of three required readings before it can be fully ratified. He said full ratification could only happen next month "at the earliest."

The assessment seems to put the brakes on the document Obama called a top priority as he whipped up the Republican votes needed to pass it before the end of the lame-duck session. (emphasis mine)

And to make matters worse, despite the argument from START supporters that the treaty won’t compromise U.S. missile defense because the stuff about “defensive arms� is in the preamble, which isn’t legally binding ... the Russian media is reporting that the missile defense provision in the new START treaty is legally binding.

Good job, Prez ...

However, trying to put lipstick on the pig, Jennifer Rubin points out that thanks to a poorly negotiated treaty, a tenacious Jon Kyl and the efforts of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Obama was finally coaxed into a reasonable position on nuclear weapons and defense. And if the Russians cheat or withdraw, we will still, if Congress holds the president's feet to the fire, have a modern nuclear weapons system and a robust missile defense. And indeed, that's not nothing.

But as for the reason for the rush to ram through New Start ... likely nothing more than what Charles Krauthammer suggests - it was important for Obama not just because of the dearth of foreign policy achievements these past two years but because treaties, especially grand-sounding treaties on strategic arms, carry the aura of presidential authority and diplomatic mastery.

In common-speak: New START was for nothing more than politics -- period -- and likely damaging to U.S. security because of its gratuitous reestablishment of the link between offensive and defensive weaponry.

Posted by Richard at December 24, 2010 10:53 AM

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