People from Barack Obama’s Administration promised Moscow ratification of the START-3 treaty. People in Moscow who are privy to certain information and usually know what they are talking about comment in the meantime that they «... would like to see them pulling it off, now.»
The Senate’s Committee for Foreign Affairs will vote the matter in
With the Republicans dead set against new treaties with the Russians, the Democrats need 8 Republican votes more than they currently have (provided all of them will vote for ratification, that is). Everything will be even more difficult and complicated after the early November election when the Democrats are nearly guaranteed to lose control over the Congress. What will happen to the START-3 then?
Unfortunately, what is happening in the United States is absolutely unpredictable. Washington’s foreign policy cannot help being affected.
START-3 was supposed to mark the beginning of a «reload». The people who grasped the necessity of this «reload» long before Obama’s election followed a simple logic, really: strategic arms reduction is clearly beneficial to both countries and to the world as such.
For both America and Russia, the «reload» means a reduction of the financial burden. Both countries need modernization, not confrontation. Everything seems to be fine... but for the factor of unpredictability. Foreign politics is something where nearly everything is known in advance. Unfortunately, the latest events in the United States seem to be shaking this system into pieces. What the new system will be is something nobody can say at this point.
