2 senators raise hopes for arms treaty

[bemildred]

Source: NYT

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's hopes of winning Senate approval for a new arms control treaty with Russia by the end of the year were encouraged Tuesday by two Republican senators, including Arizona's John McCain.

Mr. McCain, one of his party's leading voices on national security, said he thought that GOP concerns over missile defense and nuclear modernization could be resolved in time to vote on the so-called New START (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) treaty during Congress' lame-duck session this month, as Mr. Obama has sought.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Tuesday that a failure by Russia and the West to reach agreement on missile defense cooperation could provoke a new arms race. Absent such cooperation, Mr. Medvedev said, Moscow would be prepared to deploy "new means of attack."

Missile defense has been among Republicans' concerns with the treaty, which Mr. Obama has called his top foreign policy priority for the congressional session. Mr. McCain and others have expressed concern that the treaty would limit deployment of a missile shield in Europe, although the pact would not directly restrict any current plans.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10335/1107283-82.stm

[inna]

1. "raise hopes", it is a TOTAL dog and pony show. arms treaty "in exchange for" the Bush tax cuts

for the rich.

ETA: bets, anyone?

[CBHagman]

2. It has to be passed, and soon.

They need to round up about nine or 10 Republicans to pass this, and I'd note that the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar (R-IN), has been pushing for this for some time. It ought to have been done before but was delayed.

Here's another possibly hopeful sign:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has participated in negotiations over ratification of the treaty, said the administration responded late Monday to concerns that he and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) had raised.

"Could we finish? I think it's possible that we could," he said.