START Closer to Ratification

A tremendously bad treaty is closer to being ratified thanks to 11 GOP senators: Sens. Dick Lugar (Ind.), Bob Bennett (Utah), Scott Brown (Mass.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), and George Voinovich (Ohio).


The usual "moderate" (I prefer unprincipled) Republicans like Snowe, Collins, Murkowski, Lugar, and Voinovich voted for this treaty.  For whatever reason, it seems to cause no concern among Democrats or Republicans that the Russians are just a little too excited about ratifying this treaty.  Despite Putin's increasingly oppressive neo-fascist state, the 67 Senators who voted for this express far too little skepticism of Russia's intent.
 
Just as concerning is the fact that a lame-duck Senate has never before ratified such a profoundly important treaty with such incredible potential ramifications.  It takes a British columnist, Nile Gardiner, to point out why START is such a bad deal for the US:
 
Simply put, the New START Treaty is a staggeringly bad deal for the United States, and an extraordinarily good one for Vladimir Putin’s increasingly hostile and authoritarian Russia. President Obama needs to respect the will of the American electorate and allow the new Senate to vote on the Treaty, and fully scrutinise and debate the details of an agreement which, if ratified in its current form, will dramatically undercut America’s global missile defences. The White House is pressing for another monumental surrender to Moscow which will only strengthen the hand of a key US adversary.
 
It's bad enough that Obama sold out the Czechs and the Poles to appease Russia.  Now, Obama and the Senate are selling out the American people to get a "win" so the President can have a signing ceremony before the New Year.
 
Gardiner goes on to point out:
 
Russia has warned US lawmakers that any change to the new nuclear arms disarmament treaty between the two countries could destroy the pact. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the New Start treaty “cannot be reopened, becoming the subject of new negotiations” according to remarks reported by Interfax news agency. Republicans in the US Senate have recently pushed to change its wording. Two-thirds of the 100 US senators must back the treaty for it to be ratified.
 
“The Start agreement, which was drafted on the basis of strict parity, completely meets the national interests of both Russia and the United States,” Mr Lavrov told Interfax. “It cannot be reopened, becoming the subject of new negotiations,” he added.
 
The United States isn't acting like a superpower, it's acting like a beaten dog with its tail between its legs retreating from the world.  But such is the pattern of behavior for Democrats eager to apologize for America's sins before foreign audiences.  The Democrats have a patriotism problem because they so often fall into their learned habit of appeasement to America's adversaries.  The left sympathizes with the Russians (and Soviets) because they so often admire the power exerted by a single bureaucratic entity.  Tom Friedman frequently swoons over China's efficiency and complains about America's slow moving democracy.
 
God help us and send us a new Reagan for Christmas this year.