From Big Peace
In its Thursday edition, the Washington Times framed its report on the Senate’s ratification of the New START Treaty with two photos. The first was of President Obama doing what he does best – talking – at his press conference marking the end of a lame-duck session in which he and his allies on Capitol Hill secured sufficient Republican support ram through Congress not only a deeply flawed arms control accord but a host of other controversial and expensive pieces of legislation.
The second picture was one in which a black-belted Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is shown throwing an opponent to a mat in a display of what he is good at: deftly parlaying weakness into advantage, where necessary through the skillful application of force.
The dueling images perfectly captured what had just gone down in the U.S. Senate. Thirteen Republican senators – including the third-ranking member of the GOP leadership, Sen. Lamar Alexander, broke ranks with the rest of their party, seduced Barack Obama’s blithe promises. They bought hook-line-and-sinker his riff – backed by the testimonials of sundry former and serving officials (who should have known better) – that this treaty was in America’s vital national security interests. They were also taken in by presidential assurances that he would absolutely, positively modernize the U.S. deterrent and build and deploy capable missile defenses.
As a result, the Senate gave Comrade Putin a marvelous Christmas present. By a 71-26 margin, legislators voted for a New START Treaty that codifies the success of the Russian prime minister in jujitsuing his nation’s strategically inferior position to decisive defeat of the nation he loves to hate: the United States. He was helped enormously in this regard by the haplessness of the American team led by an inveterate champion of U.S. nuclear disarmament, Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller. Read it all …
[Obama rams START through because it is so important. Not! This also bodes poorly for our hopes for a Congress ruled by the Republicans. JS]
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