America-Russia Nuclear Arms Agreement Reached

From an Associated Press article by Tom Raum and Robert Burns:

The U.S. and Russia sealed the first major nuclear weapons treaty in nearly two decades Friday, agreeing to slash the former Cold War rivals' warhead arsenals by nearly one-third and talking hopefully of eventually ridding a fearful world of nuclear arms altogether.

President Barack Obama said the pact was part of an effort to "reset" relations with Russia that have been badly frayed. And at home the agreement gave him the biggest foreign policy achievement of his presidency, just days after he signed the landmark health care overhaul that has been his domestic priority.

Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign the agreement April 8 in Prague, where Obama gave a major speech on doing away with nuclear arms one year ago. The city is the capital of the Czech Republic, a former Soviet satellite and now a NATO member.

If ratified by the Senate and by Russia's legislature, the reductions still would leave both countries, by far the world's largest nuclear powers, with immense arsenals — and the ability to easily annihilate each other. Together, the United States and Russia possess about 95 percent of the world's nuclear weapons, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Still, Obama called the pact a step toward "the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." He said nuclear weapons "represent both the darkest days of the Cold War, and the most troubling threats of our time."

I am glad to see this achievement reached, but I am sure some opportunistic Republican legislators up for reelection will use this issue to puff their conservative chest, most likely by claiming America's, and more specifically, Obama's willingness to capitulate to the international community. The GOP will most likely try to capitalize on this event by taking the position that no nuke is a bad nuke, or at least when in hands of God lovin' capitalist Americans. Will we see another "million" teabag march on Washington come April 8th?