They're Coming Home to Roost

I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought,
but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones
--Albert Einstein

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
--Over the Rainbow
____________

Strange days indeed. The U.S. is tied in a knot about Iran's possible acquisition of nuclear weapons, yet ignores the fact that the 1972 ABM Treaty eviscerated by the Bush administration is all about nuclear weapons. Now the chickens are coming home to roost (''Putin to Suspend Pact with NATO''):

''President Vladimir V. Putin said Thursday that Russia would suspend its compliance with a treaty on conventional arms in Europe that was forged at the end of the cold war, opening a fresh and intense dispute in the souring relations between NATO and the Kremlin.''

''Although Mr. Putin did not mention it on Thursday, Russia is angry that in 2001 the Bush administration unilaterally pulled out of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty of 1972.''

Nobody cares about the missiles; it is the multiple warhead nuclear weapons that they deliver. So what is U.S. policy? Shaft Russia, which holds thousands of nukes, and hope that the problem will go away. Then we push the envelope by putting NATO missiles closer to Russian territory.

In one from the annals of the pot calling the kettle black:

''Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in Oslo at a gathering of diplomats from NATO countries, reacted coldly to Mr. Putin’s speech.

''These are treaty obligations, and everyone is expected to live up to treaty obligations,'' she said.

Right. However, the arch Ms. Rice is a tad hypocritical, and seems lost in space and time when she espouses her Cold War rhetoric.

“The idea that somehow 10 interceptors and a few radars in Eastern Europe are going to threaten the Soviet strategic deterrent is purely ludicrous, and everybody knows it,” Ms. Rice said, slipping inadvertently into cold war terminology with her reference to the Soviet Union.''

Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov presented reasoned grievances against the necessity of NATO.

“Our starting point is that we should conduct a joint analysis of whom we should protect ourselves against,” he said. “Who are our enemies?”

He added, “We cannot see at the moment any kind of justified threat.”

Why does Iran dominate our policies while GWB and Rice are baiting the bear with sharp sticks? Sharp sticks can lead to nuclear conflagrations.

Here's an idea: why not deal with the existing threat rather than the one that is somewhere over the rainbow?