Obama's next disarmament ploy is short range weapons

US and Russian New START Treaty delegationsImage by US Mission Geneva via Flickr
NY Times:

Fresh from winning Senate approval for a new strategic arms treaty, President Obama plans to return to the negotiating table with Russia next year in hopes of securing the first legal limits ever imposed on the smaller, battlefield nuclear weapons viewed as most vulnerable to theft or diversion.

This time around, though, Mr. Obama may have an easier time with the Senate Republicans who tried to block ratification of the new treaty, known as New Start, than he will with the Russians who were his partners in writing it.

As part of their case against the treaty, Senate Republicans complained vociferously that it did not cover tactical nuclear weapons, short-range bombs that have never been addressed by a Russian-American treaty. To press their point, Republicans pushed through a side resolution calling on Mr. Obama to open new talks with Russia on such weapons within a year.

That was always Mr. Obama’s long-stated plan for following up New Start, so now he has the added advantage of a virtual Republican mandate to negotiate a new arms limitation agreement with Russia. The challenge next time will actually be Russia, which has many more of these tactical bombs deployed in Europe than the United States does, and in its strategic doctrine deems them critical to defending against a potential conventional attack by NATO or China.

...
Russia may have an irrational fear of an attack by NATO or a somewhat more rational fear of China, but what Russia and the US should be concerned about is the use of such weapons by Iran and North Korea. If the Republicans were focused on Russia's inventory of short range weapons they are taking their off the real threat to the US and its allies.

I thought the START treaty was a waste of time. The biggest problem with it was not on nukes but on its restrictions on missile defense and our ability to rapidly deliver conventional weapons around the world. While the Joint Chiefs may think we have enough wiggle room under the new agreement, the strategic situation may change and we may need more of those weapons for threats outside of Russia.
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