Pressure To Ratify The New Start Treaty Intensifies

Cost And Goals At Center Of Arms Treaty Debate -- New York Times

The standoff this week over ratification of a new arms control treaty centers on a simple phrase: nuclear modernization. Those two words conceal a little known, enormously ambitious plan to do nothing less than rebuild the nation’s atomic complex for the 21st century.

At stake in the stalled negotiations between the White House and Senate Republicans is not only how much money to spend on the project but, more philosophically, what purpose should be served by building new complexes that can pump out more nuclear arms than ever.

Read more ....

More News On Ratifying The START Treaty

Obama tells GOP not to hold up Russia arms treaty -- AP
President Obama Challenges Republicans to Approve START Treaty -- Voice of America
Barack Obama chides Republicans on START -- Politico
Obama urges senators to ratify START treaty soon -- AFP
Obama Says Ratification of Russia Arms Pact `Fundamental' to U.S. Security -- Bloomberg
Obama Cites NATO Support for Russia Nuclear-Arms Treaty to Pressure Senate -- Bloomberg
NATO Allies Appeal for U.S. to Ratify Start Treaty -- Wall Street Journal
Gates Warns Of Fallout If Russia Arms Treaty Fails -- CBS News
Retired general: Senate GOP doesn't trust our military -- Greg Sargent, Washington Post
Why the west needs a New Start -- Radosław Sikorski, The Guardian

My Comment: Attacking Republican Senators (and incoming newly elected Republican Senators) from Europe is the kiss of death for the Start treaty's ratification this year. Ignoring Republican concerns until he needed their votes is not the way to govern, and unfortunately .... like the Health Bill and other pieces of legislation that were passed without (and deliberately ignored) Republican input, President Obama has now positioned himself to not be trusted by many in the Republican Party.

The above New York Times article hits it on the nail when it outlines the philosophical differences between the White House and the incoming Republican Congressional majority and incoming new Senators .... there is an absence of trust, which can only be further exacerbated by President Obama's overseas criticism. Will there be some accommodation and agreement .... hmmmm ..... I know that eventual there must be some form of an agreement, but for the near term I have my doubts.