Senate needs to stop START

June 4, 2010 05:49


The ludicrous treaty agreed to by Presidents Obama and Medvedev needs two-thirds Senate approval. No way it should receive it.

By at The American Spectator

President Obama believes he has developed a closer relationship with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev than was enjoyed by his predecessor, George W. Bush. I am doubtful about that, but even if it is so, of what consequence is it? Although the Russian constitution makes the president of the republic the number one figure at the apex of Russia’s governing elite, the reality is that the Russian constitution is what Vladimir Putin says it is. Putin is only No. 2 on paper. He is the premier. But the reality is that Putin dominates Russia today. Just as he dominated Russia when he served – briefly — under the drunken President Boris Yeltsin as his Premier.

So it should give us some concern when President Obama goes out of his way to tout a new strategic arms reduction treaty (START) signed with the ever compliant Medvedev. In fact, the pact as initialed recently in Prague is called the Obama-Medvedev treaty.

U.S. Senators should stop START. As a treaty, it requires a vote of two-thirds of the U.S. Senate. Republicans and defense-minded Democrats — are there any left? — must hold up ratification until many, many questions are answered.

John Bolton calls the START agreement “a treaty for Utopia” in carefully detailed analysis in National Review. Our former ambassador to the UN lays out many specific and pressing concerns and raises questions that deserve to be answered before any senator gives this document his okay.

I would like to address the overall atmospherics of the treaty.

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