(Itar-Tass) - Republican Senators Lindsey Graham...the endangered South Carolina RINO...
and John
MaverickMcCain
... the former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution...
stand for ratification by the US Congress' Senate of a new Russian-American treaty on further reductions of strategic offensive arms (New START), however, they doubt that it will happen. The US senators made this statement in an interview published in the press on Monday.
Graham said that he would definitely love to have this treaty ratified. If it is possible to reduce the number of nuclear warheads and launch platforms, while maintaining the deterrence option, that is fine, he noted. According to him, it would be good both from an economic point of view - as it will reduce costs, and from the national security viewpoint, if a simultaneous decision is made on the modernisation of the remaining nuclear systems.
Senator Graham also said that he, however, sees a danger that the new members of the Congress do not want to take the risks. He said he would like to see this issue settled. McCain noted for his part that he does not know, however, whether this will work out.
The New START Treaty (for STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation. It is a follow-up to the 1991 START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, and to START II and the 2002 Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was due to expire in December 2012. Prolonged talks were conducted by US and Russian delegations in Geneva, led on the American side by US State Department Assistant Secretary Rose Gottemoeller. The Russian delegation was headed by Anatoly Antonov, director of security and disarmament at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Presidents Barack
B.O.Obama and Dmitry Medvedev then announced on 26 March 2010 that they had reached an agreement. The new treaty was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague by Obama and Medvedev.
If ratified, the treaty will limit the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, which is down nearly two-thirds from the original START treaty, as well as 30 percent lower than the deployed strategic warhead limit of the 2002 Moscow Treaty. It will also limit the number of deployed and non-deployed inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments to 800. Also, it will limit the number of deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments to 700.