Ah, schoolyard bullying has come such a long way!

[louishopen]

This isn't really mine, but it is totally worthy of internet memedom- a comment on Gawker's post "History Arms Treaty Ready To Be Ratified By Totally Not-At-All Broken Senate", here: http://gawker.com/5512535/historic- ( Read more... )

Comments

[marajolie]

Oh yes! What a wonderful idea. Let's not only telegraph, but actually put in writing the exact circumstances in which our enemies can attack us without fear of the most serious reprisal. Oh no. Go ahead terrorists...bomb us, gas us, blow up our buildings, don't worry, we wont bomb you.

And yes...it's such a WONDERFUL idea to trust nations like the "new" Russia (who is selling arms to Venezuela...the same Venezuela that has threatened the US) and Iran and other nations that have shown their unreliability to deplete their arms with us.

Lek Volesa (sp?) the former premier of Poland (who helped JPII kick out the commies) stated last year that he no longer had hope in the greatness and allied power of the USA. BHO's betrayal made him loose hope.

We will get rid of some of our nukes and of course they will too. The other nations won't hide their weapons or pretend to destroy them, or make more later.

We can definitely trust them...no problem.

Louis, you are blinded by your rose colored glasses and BHO is an idiot. He has attacked and shamed Israel, left the former eastern-block completely undefended and is depleting the only military capable of defending the world--the USA.

Lek Volesa (premier of Poland in the 1980-90s) said last year that the betraying actions of BHO (dismanteling the defense grid we promised them--on the anniversary of the USSR invasion of Poland, btw) have made him give up his hope in America and the freedom and solidarity we once stood for.

[louishopen]

Let me respond to those allegations one at a time.
1) On the missile defense thing, note that the agreement is only between nations who sign the treaty, we reserve the right to use any and all means necessary against foes like North Korea and Iran. If you were watching Gingrich on Fox, you probably missed that part... actually, if you were listening to any right wing media, they probably skipped that part... not that it isn't a matter of public record, but they don't expect their audience to read original sources I guess. More here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/9/855778/-Stewart-dismantles-Fox-fear-mongering-on-nuclear-arms-reduction-treaty
2) I'm really not sure what all the angst about Israel is about, but to paint them as a people who can do no wrong is really an oversimplification, no matter what side you look at it from, and asking them to cut some of the overly aggressive behavior is really not stabbing them in the back as much as it is being a good steward of international relations.
3) The missile shield in eastern Europe is kind of a red herring... Yes, it would be good, but it isn't nearly as pivotal as it would have been in the cold war. ICBMs aren't near as much of a threat as tactical nukes these days, and thus a new "iron curtain" would make a lot less strategic sense. Therefore it was a good card to play in winning concessions, and so it was played... It was a win for us, not a loss.
4) Finally, non-proliferation treaties have been signed by Reagan, GHW Bush, and been around for the past 30 years. This current treaty actually has a lot in common with the one Reagan signed, so I have to ask, why is this suddenly a big deal? Were Reagan and Bush wrong as well?

[louishopen]

oh, one thing I forgot... If you want to talk about depleting our military, I have news for you; since the invasion of Iraq, our military has been overstretched an overworked. This is not new news. To somehow say that it is Obama's fault is to forget the last 8 years. More on this here;
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Operation_Iraqi_Freedom:_U.S._military_readiness