Senate Moves Closer to Approving New START

Disregard my last post on the subject. From The Hill, New START actually looks like it's going to pass. With all the things that have gotten done over the last few weeks, maybe the Senate should always be in a lame-duck session:

Senate Democrats appear to have the nine Republican votes they need to ratify the New START nuclear treaty this week and give President Obama his third major victory of the lame-duck session....

Senate ratification requires 67 votes or the support of two-thirds of the senators present in the chamber, assuming there is a quorum.

GOP senators — including those who plan to vote for the treaty and those who say they’ll oppose it — have told The Hill they expect the resolution of ratification to pass easily.

Will New START be effective? Well, it all depends what you mean by "effectiveness." Still, even if the treaty doesn't achieve 100% compliance it will at least strengthen our relationship with Russia - a good thing by any measure, given the number of important challenges on which we'll need their help.