U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent nuclear reductions treaty with Russia is facing opposition from Republican Senators. The New START treaty, which replaces a Cold War era counterpart treaty, must receive the assent of the U.S. Senate (and, in Russia, the Russian Duma) before it can be ratified and enter into force.
But Republicans in the Senate are proving reluctant to support ratification of the treaty, despite the fact that the concerns they have expressed to date are essentially groundless. The real basis of opposition to the treaty is widely thought to be Republican determination to prevent President Obama from achieving a significant foreign policy accomplishment ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Read more: Desmond Butler, “US-Russia nuke treaty facing hurdles in US Senate“, Associated Press, 23 July 2010