Ah, Signs of Sanity

I worried that we were going to let Russia bully us into retreating more on missile defense in eastern Europe as their price for signing a START treaty that Russia needs far more than we do (because they can't afford to maintain their existing arsenal and we can).

Our State Department says no:

The State Department said Thursday there will be no direct link between missile defenses and U.S. and Russian offensive strategic weapons cuts in the language of the nearly finished successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the treaty and text of the final agreement are still being negotiated and reports that the U.S. side in the talks will link missile defenses to START are untrue.

Well, there is that weasel phrase "no direct link" to worry about. I hope there is no secret undestanding that we'll retreat on missile defense as long as it isn't in the START treaty to openly humiliate us.
 
We shall see. Signs of sanity are not proof of sanity.