"Modest but not completely trivial."
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I'd been wondering why I wasn't hearing any career "progressive" triumphalism on Obama's nuclear deal with the Russians. Now I know why:
Q. Why is the treaty important?
A. Not because it dramatically shrinks nuclear dangers. Linton Brooks, a lead U.S. negotiator on the 1991 strategic arms treaty, on Wednesday described the weapons reductions as "modest but not completely trivial." Perhaps more important is the fact that the U.S. and Russian governments have established a bridge to potentially more substantial arms reductions and have demonstrated to the rest of the world that they are capable of giving up at least some of the weaponry they want others, like Iran, to forgo.
Well, maybe.
Then again, we've heard a lot about "potential." Performance, not so much. Except when it comes to funnelling trillions to the banksters or the insurance companies, of course. So there's that.
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Yep
And note that rumbles have been growing in Russia, with Lavrov (FM) voicing them clearly the other day. Russia may not ratify the treaty if the missile defense preamble remains...the compromise on MD was to not put it in the actual treaty but in preambles. On the other hand, the Senate will never ratify it if the MD preamble is removed.
It was a great gesture, the signing ceremony in Prague. But that's about all it was.
Also note that after the toppling of the government in Kyrgyzstan, there's talk of shortening the US lease at Manas. Our Afghan supply lines are all kinds of fucked up and Putin (as PM, foreign affairs are technically his portfolio) is more than willing to put the screws to them. SPK at The Agonist sounds like he might be willing to contemplate along the same lines as me: the revolt in Kyrgyzstan was a reverse color revolution. Add it to the recent election in Ukraine.
Everybody out there knows that the empire is falling to its knees. Not time for scavengers yet, but opportunistic predators smell the coming death.