Category: Arms Control

Good News on the Legislative Front Today

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The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was signed into law, the Senate passed the START arms control treaty, and a new food safety bill that gives the FDA the power to order recalls passed the house and is heading to the President’s desk.

I still don’t see any gazillion dimensional chess here, but it’s a good day.

BTW, since the bill gives the military fairly broad discretion in how the ban is phased in, I would take even money that separations from the military will be continuing into 2012, because Obama won’t push the military on this.

The Ever Reliable Joseph Lieberman

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Remember when I said that Joe Lieberman would be preening to get his face on the Teevee with regard to the new START Treaty?

Well, I was right. He is now calling for what appears to be a massive buildup in European missile defenses and a his desire for an unprovoked nuclear strike on Iran as a condition for his support:

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” [big shocker there] the Connecticut Independent suggested that he himself would oppose ratification of the START II Treaty that Obama signed in Prague this past week, in part because, he reasoned, the language left America vulnerable to a nuclear Iran.

“I don’t believe that there will be 67 votes to ratify the treaty unless the administration does two things,” Lieberman said. “First: commit to modernize our nuclear stockpile, so as we have less nuclear weapons we know that they are capable if, God forbid, we need them. And secondly, to make absolutely clear that the statements by Russian president [Dmitry] Medvedev at the signing in program, that seemed to suggest that if we continue to build ballistic missile defense in Europe they may pull out of this treaty, is just not acceptable to us. We need that defense to protect our allies and ourselves from Iran.”

Basically, Lieberman is saying that unless Obama threatens Iran with nuclear attack, and promises to build up the ill-conceived European missile defense system, he’ll vote no.

Yes, he’s with on everything but Iraq, thanks for keeping him in the tent and pissing in, Harry and Barack.

This is all about Joe Lieberman getting his ego stroked, and the solution to this problem is to make it clear that there will be consequences if he f%$#s with this, not to stroke his ego: that only makes him worse.

Here is hoping that he gets caught buggering an underage hamster and will be forced to resign.

This is a Big Deal

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The US and Russia have signed a treaty calling for a 30% reduction of their respective nuclear arsenals.

This is a very positive development, though it is more timid that I would have liked.

Of course, it still needs a ⅔ vote in the Senate to be approved, and Republican Mike DeMint seems to be determined to be the turd in the punch bowl, and attempt to extract promises for an extensive missile defense installation in Europe, which the Russians consider a deal breaker.

Pretty much everyone who isn’t tied to Bush/Cheney, of both parties, find this a good deal, but considering the fact that many Congressional Republicans sold their souls, and their testicles, to the Bush/Cheney agenda some years back, it should get interesting.

Also, I predict that Joe “Shanda before the Goyim” Lieberman will speak forcefully about his deep concerns regarding the treaty, in the hope of getting lots of face time on the teevee.

New Build Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic Bomber Begins Flight Test

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I think that this is another indication of how Russia is rearming, and I think that it is driven by a fear of NATO in general, and the US in particular.

Of course, this suits the Republicans just fine, because they want a scary opponent who justifies high tech white elephants like the F-22.

FWIW, “New Build” appears to be kind of a technicality. It appears that the aircraft was manufactured from a partially completed airframe dated from the 1990s.

Pot. Kettle Black

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It appears that Condoleeza Rice told Russian officials that she is concerned with weapons sales by the Russia to a number of countries.In an interview with ABC News, Secretary of State of Condoleezza Rice expressed concern about Russia’s increasing military assertiveness.

This from the woman representing the biggest arms dealer in history, not to mentionthe most gonzo* administration in US history.

*I mean this in a bad way, no association with Hunter S. Thompson is intended.

Russia Threatens to Ditch INF Treaty

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As a result of a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Russia and the US, Russia is threatening to leave the INF missile treaty.

Not a big surprise, you locate a missile defense site that is clearly targeted against Russia, and they don’t trust us. Go figure.

The original treaty only happened because we had missiles in Europe that could hit their homeland. This time, if the Russians do breakout from the treaty, there will be no US Pershings of Tomohawks. Public opinion in Europe will not allow it.

Putin knows the score, and as Lowermanhattanite says at the group news blog, never confuse a poseur (Bush, Cheney, Rice) with the real gangsta (Putin, former KGB, Clinton called him the “Coldest SOB I’ve ever Met”).

DPRK to Start Fielding More Advanced Missiles

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North Koreawill be fielding modern solid propellant missiles.

This is a natural development. Missiles and missile technology are their only real exports, and, absent a nuclear capability (which we don’t want them to have) it is their only credible deterrent.

Furthermore, these weapons are legal.

Of course, you have a former Bush administration official *cough* corrupt incompetent *cough* and a US Army general *cough* Bush Toady *cough* acting as if the sky is falling.

The North Korean has a very real fear of a sneak attack from the US. As long as Cheney is anywhere near the levers of power, this fear is justified.

Even if the fear were not justified, the best course of action is to attempt to reduce that fear, rather than stoking it with bellicose and jingoistic rhetoric.

These Morons Won’t Be Satisfied Until they Restart the Arms Race.

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Impeach them all now.

Dispute delays arms-control talks with Moscow

By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Wrangling between Bush administration aides and U.S. intelligence agencies is holding up talks with Moscow on future monitoring of the thousands of nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia still aim at one another.

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) established the elaborate scheme of inspections, data sharing, advance missile test notifications and satellite surveillance. But the accord will expire in December 2009, and the U.S. spy satellites that locate and count Russian missile sites are stretched thin by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, concerns about North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear programs and other threats, current and former U.S. officials and experts said.

Administration policymakers argue that the monitoring system is an outdated vestige of the Cold War that restricts the Pentagon’s ability to respond to new threats. They want to replace it with an informal system of looser inspections that would allow the United States to do things such as replacing nuclear warheads with conventional warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The end of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry makes strict verification unnecessary, and the START monitoring methods aren’t foolproof, anyway, said senior administration official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Could members of the press Please stop using anonymous sources anonymity when they are spouting the admin line???

Really.

The end of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry makes strict verification unnecessary, and the START monitoring methods aren’t foolproof, anyway, said senior administration official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

“We both (Moscow and Washington) want to understand the general trends and directions of each other’s forces. But we don’t need to know everything all the time,” the official said.

Alarmed by the stress on the limited fleet of U.S. spy satellites, however, U.S. intelligence agencies oppose weakening the on-site inspections and other means that give U.S. officials a window into the only nuclear arsenal capable of destroying the United States.

What they are saying here is that between, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and the DPRK (North Korea), their resources are stretched thin.

If it’s not replaced, Moscow and Washington will lose the most reliable means of monitoring each others’ compliance with the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which calls for both sides to reduce the number of warheads on their bombers, long-range missiles and submarines to 2,200 by Dec. 31, 2012. After that, neither side will be bound by limits on its arsenal.

Moreover, because the SORT treaty doesn’t require the destruction of warheads, those removed from service and stored in reserve stockpiles could be redeployed rapidly.

So this is even More destabilizing than it appears at first glance.

Russia wants a legally binding treaty mandating deeper weapons reductions. The United States favors an informal deal, opposes new weapons cuts and wants to eliminate strict verification measures.

So now we’re acting like the old Soviets.

John Bolton, who served as the administration’s top arms control official until August 2005, said it would be better to increase spending on U.S. intelligence than to rely on START-type verification to monitor Russia’s nuclear forces.

If John Bolton is for something, you won’t ever lose money going the other way. The man is a moron.