| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| The New START Treaty's Jewish link |
| 2010-12-24 |
[Arab News] President Barack B.O.Obama scored key wins Wednesday in both foreign policy and domestic politics as more than the required two-thirds of the Senate -- including 13 Republicans who defied their party's leadership -- voted to ratify the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia. Obama hailed the bipartisan outcome during a short-notice presser in which he claimed that it "sends a powerful signal to the world that Republicans and Democrats stand together on behalf of our security." Ratification of the New START capped an intense three-week lobbying campaign conducted by the White House and backed by the Pentagon, the chiefs of the armed services, and former top national security officials ranging across five Republican administrations, including former President George H. W. Bush himself, and former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice. With such power brokers in support of it, Senate ratification of the START treaty with Russia looked like a shoo-in but, after Republicans raised objections, the debate went down to the wire. Even though the Pentagon's top brass and Republican cold warriors said it would make America safer, Senate GOP leaders and other confirmed hawks disagreed, saying the president had caved in to Russian demands. Behind the scenes there was an interesting Jewish link to the START Treaty. Many Jewish groups lined up to support the new treaty in part because they believe it will have an effect on the global effort to isolate Iran. The B.O. regime and top Jewish Democratic senators, Democrats Sens. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and Charles Schumer, N.Y., lobbied Jewish groups to express support for the treaty, saying it was critical to persuading Russia to isolate Iran. The National Jewish Democratic Council, NJDC, was the first Jewish group to advocate for New START's ratification. Then the Anti-Defamation League, B'Nai Brith, J Street, the American Council for World Jewry, and the American Jewish Committee all joined the advocacy effort out of recognition that a closer relationship with Russia bodes well for Israel's security and our own. The White House, according to reports, also requested that pro-Israel groups make a push for START, maintaining that solid arms ties with Russia would help chill Iran's nuclear program. "Senators Schumer and Levin make a powerfully strong case for support for New START -- a case that should resonate with every group in our community that cares about containing Iran," David Harris, president and CEO of the NJDC, said in a statement. "Key figures from both parties agree that this treaty will not only make America more secure, but it will pay concrete dividends in our efforts to isolate Iran. I sincerely hope that every Jewish organization that is concerned about Iran will come forward and aggressively support ratification of New START." The Schumer-Levin missive noted that the treaty could be "an opportunity to improve relations with Russia, a nation that has provided considerable support for US-led efforts to pressure Iran." The American Council for World Jewry, one of the first groups to endorse ratification, said ratification means that "Russia's indispensable support in global security -- which includes blocking Iran's rogue nuclear program -- will not be impeded." Opposing the treaty were a group of Republican senators, led by Rep. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who said its verification measures were inadequate and that it unnecessarily reduced the US profile in Europe. The treaty provides for resuming critical nuclear inspection programs that had been in place since the end of the Cold War, but ceased with the December 2009 expiration of the first START treaty. In addition to resuming nuclear-facility verification mechanisms and reducing US and Russian nuclear stockpiles, New START now opens a new chapter in US-Russian cooperation on a range of strategic threats, notably Iran's nuclear program. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 they believe it will have an effect on the global effort to isolate Iran. More likely due to its adverse affect on America. Levin is a useful idiot and a long-term incumbent Democrat. (redundancy alert!) Religion has nothing to do with it. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-12-24 13:30 |
| #1 As an appeal to right wing antisemitism, this is pathetic. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-12-24 06:14 |