It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
The treaty -- signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama at an elaborate ceremony in Prague in April -- restricts each nation to a maximum of 1,550 deployed warheads, a cut of about 30 percent from a limit set in 2002.
The agreement, a top Obama foreign policy initiative, replaces a previous accord that lapsed in December 2009 and also requires ratification by Russia's lower house, the Duma.
Republicans have said they need to be sure that the US nuclear arsenal will be modernized and that the treaty will not hamper US missile defense efforts -- but some acknowledged privately that they did not want to hand Obama a major diplomatic victory before the elections.
The task of ratifying the accord will be even tougher in January when a new Congress, elected in November 2 polls in which Republicans routed Democrats, takes office.
In a further sign of trouble, 10 Republican senators-elect called in a letter for the ratification to be delayed until next year
Failure to pass the deal would suggest that Obama is weakened politically after the mid-term polls cast doubt on his ability to pass major legislation and represent a personal humiliation in front of other world leaders.
Originally posted by asperetty
Why do you believe that a stall in this treaty will result in a catastrophic fallout? So weapons won't be reduced, and transparency will remain a mirage. .
Originally posted by Fiberx
This agreement and the related agreement to bring the Russians into the fold on the missile defense systems is a huge step forward to forging a new paradigm. The republicans play games with a future that could do more to increase our safety than any fascist search and seizure program. We need to clean the political slate around here. We have nothing but over paid, over powered, self righteous children running our country.
STOP TRADING MY FUTURE FOR YOUR EGOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!