Senate Republicans Support of New START Hinges on Nuclear Weapons Funding

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

Stories we're following today: Tuesday, August 3, 2010:

Senate Republicans Ask: What’s the Hurry on the New START Treaty? - Reuters [link]

• When it comes to ratifying President Obama’s nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Russians, Senate Republicans say: don’t rush us.
• “The only way this treaty gets in trouble is if it’s rushed,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with Reuters. “My advice to the president was, don’t try to jam it, answer all the requests, and let’s take our time and do it right,” he said.
• McConnell said he had not yet decided how he would vote on the treaty, but that he would be strongly influenced by whatever Senator Jon Kyl, the Republican whip, decides.
• “All they have to do is find enough money to satisfy Senator Kyl that they are prepared to do what they said they would do,” he said.

Forum: New START Treaty Should Be Ratified - Ira Helfand in the Athens Banner Herald [link]

• Historically, arms control agreements of this type have received overwhelming bipartisan support.
• The failure of Senate Republicans to support New START is even more striking given the overwhelming support the treaty enjoys among the Republican defense establishment.
• Every substantive question has been answered, and now is the time for Republicans and Democrats to ensure the immediate ratification of this treaty.
• Georgia will play a defining role in deciding whether this treaty moves forward or is rejected. On a tour I made through Atlanta and Athens two weeks ago, I spoke with many Georgians who feel that we no longer can afford to ignore the dangers posed by these weapons of mass destruction.
• Sen. Isakson has a critical decision to make in the days ahead, and Georgians must let him know they support this essential piece of our national security.

Taking Disarmament Seriously - Gareth Evans in Project Syndicate [link]

• The truth is that it is sheer dumb luck – not statesmanship, good professional management, or anything inherently stable about the world’s nuclear weapon systems – that has let us survive so long without catastrophe.
• With 23,000 nuclear weapons still in existence, more than 7,000 of them actively deployed, and more than 2,000 still on dangerously high launch-on-warning alert, we cannot assume that our luck will hold indefinitely.
• So it should be obvious that maintaining the status quo is intolerable. Moreover, there is the real risk of proliferation, especially in the Middle East, multiplying the dangers that nuclear weapons will be used by accident or miscalculation as well as design.
• As the world commemorates the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this August, we should recognize that our luck is running out – and take them seriously.
  
  

Closing the Verification Gap - Daryl Kimball in the Moscow Times [link]

• The New START treaty is vital because it would fill a verification gap created by the expiration of the original START and its Cold War-era system of on-site inspections and data exchanges.
• Without ratification of New START, each side will rapidly lose insight into the other’s strategic nuclear forces and will engage in more costly force modernization and hedging strategies.
• Neither the U.S. nor Russia accused the other of violating core provisions of START at any point and the treaty’s verification provisions provided a means to restore confidence between the two countries when doubts arose. New START promises to do the same.
• New START and its verification system are essential for building trust and confidence that Washington and Moscow will continue to meet their commitment to reduce excess strategic nuclear weapons and lower the nuclear threat. It is essential that both countries approve the treaty without delay.
  
• Note: Daryl Kimball is a Ploughshares Fund grantee.