December 1, 2010--Cold Warriors
If you are wondering why an overwhelming majority of Republican senators is opposed to the START treaty Barack Obama negotiated with the Russians, a treaty that calls for additional reductions of both side's nuclear stockpiles and the continuation of on-site inspections to be certain that there is no cheating (from Ronal Reagan's playbook--Trust But Verify), it it because Republicans prefer a return to the Cold War than the quagmire of wars on terror in which we are involved.
For old Cold Warriors to think about the threat to our security coming from just one source--Russia and its nukes--is much more comprehensible and even perversely comforting than having to think about threats emanating from guys who terrorize us with box cutters and underwear bombs.
Conservatives believe we can effectively confront Russia with our high-tech weapons systems whereas, as we have seen since Vietnam, these are essentially useless when attempting to deal with and defeat terrorists and indigenous insurgents. Our fancy drones can track down an occasional Al Qaeda operative but our troops and Times Square are still vulnerable to determined enemies who are willing to blow themselves us when attacking us or carry out their evil missions using cheap, low-tech improvised explosive devices.
Thus, when Republicans hold Obama up for political ransom what do they demand in return for support for a fairly benign treaty which would make the world a little bit safer?
Senator Kyl, the GOP "expert" on these matters, says he will consider voting for the START treaty if and only if it includes hundreds of billions of new dollars to modernize and upgrade our current nuclear arsenal. This from a senator who spends the other half of his time calling for spending trillions on tax cuts for the wealthy and insists that the budget can only be balanced by implementing massive spending cuts.
He is the same Senator Kyl who also opposes extending unemployment benefits because, he absurdly contends, the unemployed will not spend the money but rather save it. The rich,on the other hand, deserve their tax breaks because they are what he calls "job creators." By this I assume he means jobs at Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses where the super-wealth shop for their Picassos.
And then of course there are all the jobs that will be created if we have the guts to again rev up the old Cold War.
For old Cold Warriors to think about the threat to our security coming from just one source--Russia and its nukes--is much more comprehensible and even perversely comforting than having to think about threats emanating from guys who terrorize us with box cutters and underwear bombs.
Conservatives believe we can effectively confront Russia with our high-tech weapons systems whereas, as we have seen since Vietnam, these are essentially useless when attempting to deal with and defeat terrorists and indigenous insurgents. Our fancy drones can track down an occasional Al Qaeda operative but our troops and Times Square are still vulnerable to determined enemies who are willing to blow themselves us when attacking us or carry out their evil missions using cheap, low-tech improvised explosive devices.
Thus, when Republicans hold Obama up for political ransom what do they demand in return for support for a fairly benign treaty which would make the world a little bit safer?
Senator Kyl, the GOP "expert" on these matters, says he will consider voting for the START treaty if and only if it includes hundreds of billions of new dollars to modernize and upgrade our current nuclear arsenal. This from a senator who spends the other half of his time calling for spending trillions on tax cuts for the wealthy and insists that the budget can only be balanced by implementing massive spending cuts.
He is the same Senator Kyl who also opposes extending unemployment benefits because, he absurdly contends, the unemployed will not spend the money but rather save it. The rich,on the other hand, deserve their tax breaks because they are what he calls "job creators." By this I assume he means jobs at Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses where the super-wealth shop for their Picassos.
And then of course there are all the jobs that will be created if we have the guts to again rev up the old Cold War.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home