New START Advice & Consent = Given

If you didn't see the news yesterday, the Senate gave their advice and consent to New START:

The Senate ratified the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START, by a vote of 71 to 26, easily clearing the threshold of two-thirds of senators present as required by the Constitution for treaty ratification.

The final vote came after Senate Democrats accepted two amendments designed to placate Republicans who had qualms about the treaty. The amendments, which passed on voice votes with bipartisan support, emphasized the administration's commitment to a limited missile-defense program and to continued funding to modernize the aging U.S. nuclear weapons complex.

The amendments were to the resolution of ratification accompanying the treaty, a nonbinding statement that codifies the Senate's understanding of the pact but does not directly affect its language. Republican efforts to alter the treaty language were defeated, with supporters of the pact arguing that such changes would have forced new negotiations with Moscow and effectively killed the treaty.

Notice anything wrong with the Washington Post's headline/article? It's a common mistake - one often made by politicians and commentators alike - but a mistake nonetheless. What's the mistake? The Senate DOES NOT ratify treaties - they only provide their advice and consent to ratification. Under international law, the President (or whoever else possesses full powers for purposes of a particular treaty) ratifies a treaty. Perhaps a minor mistake of semantics, but one that nevertheless evinces a lack of understanding of international law.

To the treaty - time will tell how effective it will be, whether its verification provisions will be adequate, and whether the Russians will try to interpret it to limit America's ability to go forward with missile defense. On that issue - if the Russians objected to President Obama's contention that New START does not constrain America's missile defense capabilities, then one would have expected them to make some sort of formal objection to the letter President Obama sent the Senate. However, the Russians made no such objection - leading this observer to believe that the issue is unlikely to be a big deal moving forward.