‘Peace’ through pusillanimity.
Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed the biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation, lacing the moment with new warnings of sanctions for an intransigent Iran.
The treaty, sealed after months of halting negotiation, is significant not just for what it does but for what it symbolizes: a fresh start for the United States and Russia, and evidence to a watching world that nuclear disarmament is more than a goal.
The pact commits their nations to slash the number of strategic nuclear warheads by one-third and more than halve the number of missiles, submarines and bombers carrying them.
That still leaves the two countries with enough nuclear firepower to ensure mutual destruction several times over, but the move sets a foundation for deeper reductions, which both sides are already pursuing.
“It sends a signal around the world that the United States and Russia are prepared to once again take leadership,” Obama said moments after he and Medvedev signed the treaty in a gleaming, ornate hall in the Czech Republic’s presidential castle.
Said the Russian president: “The entire world community has won.”
The pact will shrink the limit of nuclear warheads to 1,550 per country over seven years, about a third less than the 2,200 currently permitted.
Looming over the celebration was Iran, which in the face of international pressures continues to assert that its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, not for weapons as suspected. Six powers — the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, Germany and now China — are in talks in New York about a fourth set of United Nations sanctions to pressure Iran into compliance.
……Negotiations between the U.S. and Russia got bogged down in disputes, including Russia’s objection to U.S. missile defense plans for Europe. The Kremlin is still concerned about the plan but sought to tamp down talk it would withdraw from the new treaty if there is a buildup in the missile defense system. Russia codified its option to withdraw in a statement in connection with the treaty.
……Beyond slashing nuclear arsenals, the U.S. sees the new “START” treaty, as it is known, as a key part of efforts to reset ties with Russia, badly strained under the Bush administration, and engage Moscow more in dealing with global challenges, including the nuclear arsenal of North Korea and nuclear ambitions of Iran.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/07/obama-heads-prague-sign-arms-deal/
“The entire world community has won.” Really? The only ones to benefit from this idiocy are WMD-seeking muslim terrorists, North Korea, Iran, and Russia. Iran and North Korea will do what they want regardless, and Russia just got another sweet deal in the process.
The first conciliatory gesture to the Russians came when President Punchdrunk reneged on America’s promise to Poland and the Czech Republic; he cancelled the missile defense sites that had been promised to these governments by the Bush administration. It was a move calculated to kiss Vladimir Putin’s ass as a price for ‘improved relations’.
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/obama-screws-our-eastern-european-allies/
More:
Obama’s decision to reverse 65 years of U.S. nuclear weapons policy and drop most of the nation’s deterrence capacity has alarmed critics who say they fear that the United States will now be more vulnerable to attack from would-be nuclear nations.
By changing the policy, the Obama administration hopes the United States can focus on stopping the spread of atomic weapons to terror groups such as Al Qaeda as well as halt North Korea’s nuclear buildup and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday in announcing the new Nuclear Posture Review.
But skeptics say the policy change will only embolden those groups and tie the U.S.’ hands.
“I’m deeply concerned by some of the decisions made in the Nuclear Posture Review and the message this administration is sending to Iran, North Korea, and non-state actors who may seek to harm the United States or our allies,” Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, said in a written statement. “By unilaterally taking a nuclear response off the table, we are decreasing our options without getting anything in return and diminishing our ability to defend our nation from attack.”
“We believe that preventing nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation should begin by directly confronting the two leading proliferators and supporters of terrorism, Iran and North Korea,” said Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl in a joint statement.
“The Obama administration’s policies, thus far, have failed to do that and this failure has sent exactly the wrong message to other would be proliferators and supporters of terrorism,” they said.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/07/obamas-new-nuke-strategy-alarms-gop-defense-officials/
Meanwhile, North Korea and Iran have no intention of backing down from nuclear proliferation.
North Korea denounced President Barack Obama’s new nuclear stance as “hostile” and vowed to continue expanding its atomic arsenal Friday as the country’s rubber-stamp parliament held an annual session focused on rescuing and revitalizing the tattered economy.
Obama pledged Tuesday to resist using nuclear weapons against nations that comply with international nonproliferation standards — exempting North Korea and Iran from the new policy.
Miffed by Obama’s move, North Korea accused his government of being no better than the Bush administration, “hell-bent on posing a nuclear threat” to North Korea, and said it would not give up its atomic weapons.
“As long as the U.S. nuclear threat persists, (North Korea) will increase and update various type nuclear weapons as its deterrent in such a manner as it deems necessary in the days ahead,” the official Korean Central News Agency quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying Friday.
Washington and other regional powers have been trying to coax North Korea back to disarmament talks it walked out of last year.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/09/n-korea-vows-building-nuclear-bombs/
North Korea and Iran may have been exempted, but this new stance does nothing to maintain a strong deterrence against any and all aggressors. That policy worked just fine for over 60 years, but Obama has just eviscerated further, the security and preparedness of U.S. defenses. We’ve already done away with our biological and chemical weapon stockpiles, now we’re going to chip away at the last major deterrent we have left.
He’s also agreed to restrictions on our submarine launched missle systems and missile defense interceptors.
Article V, Section 3:
Each Party shall not convert and shall not use ICBM launchers and SLBM launchers for placement of missile defense interceptors therein.
Hat tip to Closing Velocity.
http://closingvelocity.typepad.com/closing_velocity/2010/04/surprise-new-start-treaty-indeed-limits-us-missile-defense.html
Nice job, Obama. You just gave notice to every hostile nation on the planet that America has lowered its strategic defense capabilities. Asslown.
This adds to the growing list of Obama fuckups that must be overturned once the Republicans regain the majority.
Related articles:
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2009/05/sen_richard_shelby_protests_mi.html
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/04/06/kt-mcfarland-obama-nukes-reagan-nuclear-policy-north-korea-iran-hope/
http://hannity.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/06/obamas-unilateral-disarmament/
http://closingvelocity.typepad.com/closing_velocity/2010/04/cold-war-hero-vaclav-havel-snubbed-at-start-treaty-signing.html