"The State Duma proceeds from the assumption that the New START treaty can be functioning and viable only in conditions when there is no quantitative and qualitative buildup of the U.S. missile defense systems, developed independently or jointly with other countries," the Duma said in a statement accompanying the passage of the ratification bill.
There was never any doubt that Russia would ratify this gift to them, of course.
Yeah, weren't we who opposed the treaty using this as one of the arguments against passage just being silly?
Oh, and about Russia's large numbers of theater and shorter range nukes outside the treaty, according to the initial story:
In its statement on Tuesday, the Duma also turned a cold shoulder to the U.S. push for a quick start of U.S.-Russian talks to cut short-range nuclear weapons.
On top of news that Russia has room to increase their strategic nukes under the ceiling while we will have to cut to get to our ceiling, we have ample evidence that this treaty was rushed through our Senate last year without proper debate. I knew we'd finally get to see what's in the treaty once it was ratified, and that seems to be the case.
Admit it, Russian missile defense ideas are all about defending their missiles--and we gave it to them in New START. Maybe that is even a wise foreign policy move. But the treaty defenders never argued that case. They simply denied the validity of treaty opponent objections. Now we know that many of those objections are valid. And it is still January.
On the bright side, this isn't the Cold War and Russia isn't the Soviet Union, and so the stakes aren't as high right now. Still, I would have rather had an honest debate on the treaty.
