James Schlesinger on the New START: "It is obligatory for the U.S. to ratify this treaty."

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

Is the debate on the New START over before it begins?  

"It is obligatory for the U.S. to ratify this treaty."

-Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, SFRC Hearing: 4/29/10

Stories we're following today, Friday, April 30, 2010:

Kerry Opens Hearings on Arms Treaty - The Boston Globe [link]

• Senator Kerry opened the hearings on the New START with a call to put aside partisan politics and judge the treaty on its merits.  
• Kerry also contended that, "this treaty improves our security because it increases certainty, stability and transparency between two countries that together hold 95% of the world's nuclear weapons -- and it does so while retaining for America the flexibility to protect ourselves and our allies in Europe and around the world."  
• The hearing also included former Secretaries of Defense James Schlesinger and William Perry.  

US Sets Modest Ambitions for UN Nuclear Talks - AFP [link]

• Speaking at an event at the Center for American Progress, Under Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher set modest ambitions for next week's Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT RevCon).  
• Tauscher believed that the conference would be a success even without a consensus final document, as a final document can easily be blocked by the extreme agendas of a few.  
• She stated that broad reaffirmation of support for the basic bargain of the treaty would be a victory.

Clinton Warns Iran Against any Bid to Disrupt Nuclear Talks  - AFP [link]

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he will fail if he tries to disrupt the NPT RevCon next week.  
• She noted "their record of violations of the non-proliferation obligations that they assumed as a signatory to the NPT is absolutely indisputable", but "if Ahmadinejad wants to come and announce that Iran will abide by their non-proliferation requirements under the NPT, that would be very good news indeed."   

A Familiar View from the Dark Side

Obama's Nuke Policy Leaves Our Allies Feeling Increasingly on Their Own - John Bolton in FoxNews.com [link]

• Bad as Obama's policies are for America, they are equally dangerous for friends who have relied for decades.
• If Washington will not continue to hold the nuclear umbrella that has provided strategic stability for so long, other countries will begin making divergent decisions about how to protect themselves, including, for some, the possibility of seeking their own nuclear weapons.