Index – start politics da

EXT: START SOLVES PROLIF

START Key to US Russia nuclear stability, US non prolif credibility, global support for non proliferation and arms control and marginalization of nuclear weapons

Granoff, ’09 (Jonathan, President Global Security Initiative, http://www.gsinstitute.org/gsi/pubs/03_26_09_NPT.pdf)

A high priority therefore is for the United States and Russia to agree on means to verify and make irreversible the reductions. The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC) recommends negotiation of a new treaty that would further cut strategic forces and also provide for verified dismantlement of warheads withdrawn under SORT.8 In negotiating SORT, the Bush administration rejected a detailed agreement spelling out transparency and verification measures on the grounds that Cold Warstyle arms control is no longer necessary and that the United States has no interest in determining together with Russia the size and composition of the two countries’ arsenals. This approach overlooks that Cold War or no, the two countries need to regulate their nuclear relationship; “partnership” is not necessarily forever. Further, accounting for warheads and verifying reductions is essential to achieving marginalization and elimination of nuclear weapons globally. Verification is needed to bring greater security to the rest of the world because the rest of the world is properly concerned with the efficacy of the disarmament and arms reduction efforts of the United States and Russia. The Administration’s recent overtures will bolster good will internationally when progress is made and such progress is presented to the NPT parties as formally reinforcing the NPT process. Bilateral steps must be contextualized as reinforcing the multilateral institutions.
Start key symbolic support for NPT and spurs deeper cuts

Tauscher, 7/30/09 (Ellen, Under Sec Arms Control, States News Service)

And, finally, we are moving to ensure that the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference next year is a success. This is something that is much needed given the great stress placed upon the treaty over the past several years. Let me start by making the strongest case I can for the New START Treaty. I believe the New START Treaty is the beginning of a new narrative for the post-Cold War generation that need not be paralyzed by the threat of nuclear war and it is a down payment for deeper reductions in the future. We are fortunate to begin our work on the foundations already established by the Limited Test Ban, INF, SALT, START, and the Moscow Treaty as well as the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Rose Gottemoeller and an interagency team are hard at work with their Russian counterparts drafting the New START treaty that will combine the predictability of START with the flexibility of the Moscow Treaty. In the recent Moscow Summits Joint Understanding, two separate limits are set out for delivery vehicles and their associated warheads. In case there is doubt, you can find it in paragraph four of the Joint Understanding. Both of these steps will enhance our national security and provide for an effective deterrent. I want to take a minute to address some of the criticism thats been directed at the New START treaty. Some say that the new treaty will not induce other countries to give up their weapons programs. We are not so nave as to believe that problem states will end their proliferation programs if the United States and Russia reduce our nuclear arsenals. But we are confident that progress in this area will reinforce the central role of the NPT and help us build support to sanction or engage states on favorable terms to us. Our collective ability to bring the weight of international pressure against proliferators would be undermined by a lack of effort towards disarmament.
Failure to extend START collapses global non prolif and relations

Lugar, ’08 (Richard, Washington Times, 7/18)

By contrast, administration officials testified to the importance of START during Senate consideration of the Moscow Treaty in 2003. This is not a mere technical issue - the foundation of the U.S.-Russian strategic relationship is about to expire and with it, the key basis for trust between the two sides.
This should be an easy call for President Bush: both President Dmitry Medvedev and former President, now Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin favor extending START. Failure to renew START will be seen worldwide as weakening the international nuclear nonproliferation regime and a further sign to many foreign leaders and experts that U.S. nonproliferation policy is adrift.