Free Republic

Russia is flouting its obligations under a major arms control treaty with the United States, according to State Department officials. “Russia is not complying with its obligation under the New START Treaty to facilitate inspection activities on its territory,” a State Department spokesman said Tuesday. "Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team outlined that breakdown in a notification to key congressional leaders on Tuesday. The assessment points to the degeneration of the last major arms...

A 74-year woman hospitalized in Vancouver, Washington last night for hydration to recover from a Urinary Tract Infection couldn't get out of the hospital tonight because she had not been tested for COVID-19. Clark County sheriff's deputies by the dozens showing up with Washington State Patrol and Vancouver City Police. It all happened when Gayle Meyer's daughter with power of attorney tried to get her out of the Salmon Creek Medical Center. Mace used to prevent the daughter's entry by law enforcement who also grabbed her by the neck. Activists from People's Rights Washington showing up outside the hospital law...

South Lawn 4:12 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Such a friendly group. Such a nice group. So, the Washington Nationals just left. We had a fantastic time with them. That was a great championship. They’re great champions. And we had a wonderful event at the White House. Terrific people. We’re now heading to the Adolph Rupp Arena, and it’s packed. There are thousands of people trying to get in. It’s going to be a great evening for Governor Bevin. It’s a tight race. We’re going to see how that works out. I think he’s done a great job as governor. So...

Russia is doubling the number of its strategic nuclear warheads on new missles by deploying multiple reentry vehicles that have put Moscow over the limit set by the new START arms treaty,according to pentagon officials.

WASHINGTON — Americans following this year's presidential campaign would never know it from mainstream media coverage, but the commander in chief we hired four years ago has set the United States on a course for unilateral disarmament. The following people hope you won't notice until after Nov. 6: Vladimir Putin, Liang Guanglie, Kim Jong-un, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, A.Q. Khan and of course, Barack Obama. The 10 individuals above share a common fascination: nuclear weapons. Vladimir Putin, Russia's modern czar; Liang Guanglie, minister of national defense for...

U.S. to trim air, sea and land nuke launchers under U.S.-Russia treaty: officials 11:32am EDT By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will scale back its land, sea and air nuclear missile launchers under a New START treaty with Russia but not retire a ballistic missile squadron as some lawmakers had expected, U.S. officials told Reuters. The U.S. military will disable four missile launch tubes on each of its 14 U.S. nuclear submarines, convert 30 B-52 nuclear bombers to conventional use and empty 50 intercontinental ballistic missile silos, senior administration officials said on condition of anonymity. The plan...

Russian officials this week carried out a secret inspection of the U.S. strategic missile defense base in California as part of the New START arms treaty, according to Obama administration officials. The inspection of five missile defense interceptors is the only one allowed under the 2010 arms accord. The treaty requires cuts of U.S. and Russian deployed strategic warheads to 1,550. A defense official said the visit was a treaty verification visit hosted by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. A State Department official declined to comment on the inspection but confirmed it was related to New START. “Implementation activities under...

Perhaps the strongest argument against a new agreement with Russia is the virtual certainty that Russia will violate it. It is now clear that the Russians are in violation of major arms control treaties and that the current Administration is ignoring these violations. The current proposal will create major nuclear disparity in Russia's favor and leave the U.S. vulnerable to Russian air and missile defense. The Administration reportedly intends to circumvent congressional approval -- a clear indication of how bad they expect the outcome to be. When Obama, in June 2013, announced his agenda for the next round of nuclear...

One need not support formal term limits to recognize the existence of informal ones, and the tightening polls in the Indiana Senate Republican primary suggest voters there may be starting to think Senator Richard Lugar has been in Washington long enough. The conventional wisdom has been that the six-term incumbent Lugar is a safer general-election bet than his opponent, state treasurer Richard Mourdock. But the primary has heretofore shown Lugar to be out of touch with Hoosiers, an institutionalized Capitol Hiller who for a spell was ruled ineligible to vote in his own primary after a local board determined he...

President Obama had just finished touting the “outstanding relationship” he and Dmitry Medvedev have built between themselves and their nations – the American leader even used the “reset” button metaphor again – when the Russian president turned to the thorny issue of Washington’s plan to upgrade its missile defense shield, and uncorked a stunner. “I have told my counterpart, Barack Obama, that this issue will be finally solved in the future,” Medvedev told reporters in Deauville, France, “like, for example, in the year 2020.” It wasn’t merely that Medvedev had chosen a date almost comically far into the future to...

SKOLKOVO, Russia -- President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday warned of a new Cold War era if Russia and the West fail to agree on missile defense, in the first major news conference of his presidency. Despite the startling warning to the United States and Europe, Medvedev confounded expectations he would use the event to finally announce if he intends to seek a new Kremlin mandate in 2012 elections. Russia is increasingly worried about US plans to build missile defense facilities in ex-Communist eastern Europe and is also offended that NATO appears to have shunned its proposals for a joint missile...

President Obama placed our soldiers under UN NATO control for his war in Libya without consulting the United States Congress. Using our soldiers and our military assets according to what the “international community” global elites decide is clearly what Obama is interested in doing. Another example of weakening America’s military defense was Obama’s push to enact the START Treaty. In short, the START Treaty places decisions about America’s defense in the hands of Russia and the global elites. Since when has an American president ceded our ability to defend our country by placing it in the hands of globalists who...

China’s nuclear arsenal poses the most serious “mortal threat” to the United States among nation states, Director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper told the Senate on Thursday. In candid testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr. Clapper said he considered China the most significant threat among nation states, with Russia posing the second-greatest threat. He later clarified the comments by saying he did not assess that China or Russia had the intention to launch an attack on the United States. The testimony contrasts with statements by Obama administration officials who have sought to highlight the dangers of Iran and North...

Moscow – The graying bear is getting a make-over. Russia's military is launching its biggest rearmament effort since Soviet times, including a $650 billion program to procure 1,000 new helicopters, 600 combat planes, 100 warships, and 8 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Analysts say Russia, while already the world's fifth-largest military spender, needs strong conventional forces to reduce its overreliance on its aging Soviet-era nuclear missile deterrent. Valentin Rudenko, director of the independent Interfax-Military News Agency, says it could create "a whole new ballgame." "For about two decades we've had no real modernization, at least not like what's being proposed now,"...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia sees the planned U.S. missile defense system as a potential threat to its nuclear forces and may review its participation in a landmark nuclear arms treaty, officials said Monday. The New START deal, the centerpiece of Barack Obama's efforts to reset ties with Russia and the most significant arms control pact in nearly two decades, took effect last week. It limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200. The treaty doesn't prevent the U.S. from building new missile defense systems, but Russia has warned that it reserves the right to...

WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton talked about U.S. national security challenges. In his remarks he sharply criticized President Obama’s policies on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia, Chinese Hu Jintao’s recent state visit the U.S., relations with North Korea, and economic sanctions against Iran. He responded to audience members' questions.

MOSCOW -- Russia's lower house of parliament on Tuesday ratified a landmark nuclear arms pact with the United States, virtually assuring passage of an agreement President Barack Obama has described as the most significant arms control deal in nearly two decades. The State Duma voted 350-96 with one abstention to pass a bill to ratify the New START treaty, which was approved by the U.S. Senate late last year. The treaty will now go to the upper house for final approval. The New START would limit each country to 1,550 strategic warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200 and...

The cheer over Russia's approval of a new nuclear disarmament treaty is short-lived as it masks Moscow's reluctance to ensure further cuts, threatening US President Barack Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world. Russia is going through the final motions of ratifying a new START treaty ... The US Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists estimates that Russia has 2,050 deployed tactical warheads that could be deployed in small nuclear campaigns in its periphery. The United States has just 500. Lavrov said Russia's commitment under the new START treaty will not be "fulfilled" for another seven years, and some analysts interpreted the...

I got an email from my Senators that explained why they voted for the treaty. They made a deal with Obama. Tax dollars for Tennessee! They met with him told him they would vote for the treaty and for money to update our nuclear weapons facilities and asked that he request those funds in his budget (quote): Implementation includes spending $3.6 billion for a new secured area at Oak Ridge, covering 15 acres instead of the current 150. It means tearing down the last 17 Cold War buildings. The more efficient facility will save taxpayers $200 million each year in...