Dod - Okay, live from Washington, Democratic strategist, Robert Weiner, thank you for your input.
TRANSCRIPT OF JAMES LEWIS ON RT-TV:
Transcript -" James Lewis on Russia Today TV
Topic: START Ratification
December 14, 2010 -" 3:07 -" 3:08 GMT
December 14, 2010 -" 6:07 -" 6:08 Moscow Time
Preserved Video Link: click here
Matt Trezza - Policy Analyst, James Lewis, says failure to ratify the deal will
undermine global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
James Lewis - If the treaty is not passed, the most dangerous ramification is that those safeguards will not continue and those inspections will continue to lapse between the United States and Russia -- and then beyond that, our policy between the United States and Russia is put at a very dangerous crossroads. We both have obligations under the Nonproliferation Treaty to decrease our nuclear arsenals, moving toward a nuclear free world. The French have just disbanded their bomber fleet and the UK has moved solely to a submarine-launched system. The US and Russia still have all three kinds and it's still a very, very dangerous world.
My personal opinion is that, this a key element of legislation and I think the Republicans are simply backed into a corner. But when push-comes-to-shove, they are going to vote for it. The US-Russian cooperation of nuclear disarmament has a long history and a very productive history, and it's going to continue that way. I believe that Russia and the US, with Republican and Democratic leadership on the American side and the leadership of the Russian government, on the other side, will start to move toward a nuclear weapons-free world.
Robert Weiner is a former spokesman for the White House and the House Government Operations Committee; James Lewis is a senior policy analyst at Robert Weiner Associates.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
