White House, DoD Urge Senate to Ratify New START

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today, Friday, November 5, 2010.

 White House, DoD Urge Senate to Ratify START Treaty - Jim Garamone in the American Forces Press Service [link]

• President Barack Obama today urged the Senate to ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty before it goes out of session in December, and Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell echoed that call.
• Ratification of the treaty would “send a strong signal to Russia that we are serious about reducing nuclear arsenals,” the president said, and also would send a signal to all nations that the United States is serious about nonproliferation.
• Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and former defense and national security leaders from both parties have expressed their support for the treaty, he noted.
• “This treaty is absolutely critical to the effectiveness of our nuclear arsenal, our knowledge of Russian nuclear capabilities and U.S. national security overall,” Morrell said. “We’re advancing it at this time and pushing for ratification because we need this. And we need it sooner, rather than later.”
  

Elections Shouldn’t Impact START Ratification - Max Bergmann in "The Wonk Room" [link]

• There has been a lot of idle speculation over how the outcome of the congressional elections affect the ratification of the New START treaty. Frankly, the elections should change almost nothing.
• There are now 58 sitting Democrats in the Senate (including Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT)). That means Democrats need 9 Republicans to ratify the treaty in the lame duck period. Considering that Richard Lugar (R-IN), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Bob Corker (R-TN) have all supported the treaty, that means 6 more Republicans are needed to reach 67. This is actually not such a tall order.
• With the support of the four fairly moderate Republican Senators from New England – Collins (R-ME), Snowe (R-ME), Gregg (R-NH), Brown (R-MA) – and the two retiring moderates – Voinovich (R-OH) and Bennett (R-UT) – the New START treaty would pass. But even if one or two of those drop, there are a number of other possible Republican votes, including Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ), Orin Hatch (R-UT), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and George LeMieux (R-FL).
• The real questions regarding START ratification remain unchanged – will the Senate GOP leadership of Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) seek to further obstruct the treaty and block a vote that will likely split their caucus; and if that is the case will the Democratic leadership in the Senate allow them to succeed by not pushing for a vote on the Senate floor?

Breaking Pakistan's Nuclear Addiction - Daryl Kimball in Foreign Policy [link]

• The members of the 65-country Conference on Disarmament have tried and failed to start talks on a global, verifiable, nuclear-weapons material production cutoff treaty. Unfortunately, Pakistani leaders in particular have made it clear that they consider proposals for a fissile-material production cutoff a "clear and present" danger and have worked to block negotiations on a production cutoff treaty.
• Stronger, more creative leadership from Washington and other capitals will be necessary to break the dangerous impasse. Here is what President Barack Obama and others can do:
• Encourage Indian leadership and restraint: Pakistan's concerns about a fissile-material cutoff likely will not be alleviated as long as India's production potential remains superior. 
• Establish independent talks to establish a fissile cutoff: If Pakistan cannot be persuaded to allow talks on a fissile cutoff treaty to begin before the Conference on Disarmament in January, the United States should pursue parallel, open-ended talks involving the states with fissile production facilities that are not legally required to be under IAEA inspections -- Britain, China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, and Russia. By engaging China and India, in particular, Pakistan would come under greater pressure to support progress.
• Investigate Pakistan's misuse of IAEA assistance for its weapons work: To increase its leverage on Pakistan, the Obama administration should indicate its support for an audit of the IAEA's technical-support programs in Pakistan. It has long been an open secret that these programs have likely been misused by the Pakistani government.
  

Talking to Iran - Toledo Blade Editorial [link]

• Iran told the European Union last week that it is prepared to resume negotiations with the West about its nuclear program after Nov. 10. This is good news for several reasons.
• One is that Iran's nuclear program is a matter of concern to the United States and the rest of the international community. Although Iran insists that the program has only peaceful, energy-related objectives, the United States and most of the world suspect the Islamic republic seeks to develop a nuclear weapons capacity.
• A second reason is that dialogue could reduce the possibility of a war with Iran. 
• It is hard to argue that such a war would benefit America, in forces or in finance, particularly with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not completed.
• The subject is important enough for the United States to treat it seriously, even if that means ignoring to some degree the provocative ravings of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is one of many spokesmen for Iran. The United States needs to persist in pursuing useful dialogue with this large, important state in a sensitive region.

 A View from the Dark Side

Heritage Targets Republican Senators Who Might Favor New START - Josh Rogin in Foreign Policy [link]

• Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, answered that question in the affirmative Thursday by sending out a new mailer across the country targeting specific senators, mostly Republicans, in the hope of pressuring them to vote against the treaty. The campaign targets Democratic senators in conservative states, Republican senators in liberal states, and even Republicans who have indicated support for New START, such as Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN).
• "Why did Senator Bob Corker vote in committee to put Russia's military interests ahead of our own," reads one iteration of the mailing, referring to Corker's vote to approve the treaty in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sept. 16. With a picture juxtaposing the images of Obama, Vladimir Putin, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the mailer alleges that President Obama and lawmakers are using the "lame duck" session of Congress to ram through the New START treaty, which it argues "severely weakens our national security."
• Heritage also alleges that the treaty, which would cut levels of the U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons arsenals, would somehow lead to more nuclear weapons in the hands of rogue regimes such as North Korea and Iran, which the mailer refers to as "countries that want to destroy us."