Dream a little dream
The US decision to abandon plans to build the missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic is part of a broader strategy. WSJ:
The U.S. shift on missile defense is part of a broader White House strategy to signal its commitment to disarmament and moving toward eventually eliminating America’s nuclear-weapons stockpile. The strategy includes developing and enforcing treaties aimed at banning atomic-weapons testing and the production of weapons-grade nuclear fuel…
The Russian negotiations are seen as the start of a much broader, and sequenced, disarmament strategy that U.S. officials said they would be pursuing in coming months. Mr. Obama is dispatching envoys overseas in support of a United Nations conference in May focused on strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Next Thursday, Mr. Obama will lead a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that is focused on curbing global nuclear-weapons stockpiles. His administration has also drafted a Security Council resolution calling for the elimination of all atomic weapons. Washington hopes to pass the resolution next week.
The White House pledge to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is expected to be a key battle in Mr. Obama’s strategy over the next year. President Bill Clinton initially signed the pact, which bans all testing of atomic devices, in 1996. But the Senate later rejected the treaty. Opponents of the test-ban treaty argued it lacked inspection mechanisms to effectively protect against cheating.
As others have observed, Mr. Obama seems very consistent in one thing. He is willing to give up on things that currently work imperfectly but well enough, like America’s healthcare system, in pursuit of some dream that he apparently thinks it is his personal destiny to fulfill. That is an unwise way of thinking in a complex and dangerous world.