 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Wellington (AFP) Nov 4, 2010 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday she hoped the "lame-duck" session of Congress would pass a new nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia, but she could not guarantee it. Sweeping Republican gains in Congress mostly will not become a reality in Washington until winners from Tuesday's vote are sworn in come January, giving Democrats a narrow "lame-duck" session to wrap up unfinished business. That includes passing the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed in April. "We believe we have enough votes to pass it in the Senate. It's just a question of when it will be brought to the vote," Clinton told reporters during a visit to Wellington, New Zealand, during a tour of Asia. Sixty-seven votes are required for ratification in the 100-member Senate. "It certainly would be my preference that it be brought in any lame-duck session in the next several weeks and that is what I am working toward seeing happen," the chief US diplomat said. "But we will have to wait and work with the Senate and the leadership when they come back for that session," Clinton added. "Both the United States and Russia are committed to ratifying it," she said. In Moscow, following the US elections, the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee withdrew its recommendation to ratify the treaty in the Duma, or parliament, an official said Wednesday. "If the 'lame duck' senators from the old make-up cannot do this in the next weeks then the chances of ratification in the new Senate will be radically lower than they were until now," said the chairman of the Duma's foreign affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev. Republicans failed to capture the Senate but cut deeply into the Democratic majority by picking up at least six seats in the upper chamber after bitterly fought mid-term elections. Republicans were set to control 42 of 100 Senate seats, up from 41, in the lame-duck session after Representative Mark Kirk won a special election for Obama's old spot. The START treaty restricts each nation to a maximum of 1,550 deployed warheads, a cut of about 30 percent from a limit set in 2002.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
France, Britain to test nuclear safety togetherParis (AFP) Nov 2, 2010 France and Britain will sign Tuesday a treaty that will see the two countries test the safety of their nuclear arsenals in a joint facility in France, the French presidency announced. A nuclear simulation centre will be built at Valduc in eastern France, about 45 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of the city of Dijon, and start operating from 2014, the presidency said. It will enable Frenc ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
