Rebels Scoff At Russian Proposal To Let Gadhafi Go Free

By Kenneth Bazinet

Talk of striking a deal that would allow Moammar Gadhafi to step down without fear of reprisal is back.

This time word comes from Russia, where President Dmitri Medvedev is working as a mediator in talks to try to come to a political solution to the crisis rather than Gadhafi’s exit coming at the wrong end of a NATO missile.

Russian newspaper Kommersant is reporting that even France is ready to propose a peaceful exit for Gadhafi.

“The colonel is sending signals that he’s ready to leave power in exchange for a security guarantee,” a high-placed source in the Russian government told Kommersant. “And such guarantees are ready to be offered to him.”

So far there is no word whether this latest round of talks will bear fruit. Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil signaled he is not on board with the Russian concept for a negotiated solution to the revolution.

“There is absolutely no current or future possibility for Gadhafi to remain in Libya,” Abdul-Jalil said in an email sent to the Associated Press.”There is no escape clause for Gadhafi - he must be removed from power and face justice.”

Read more from Kenneth R. Bazinet at The Baz File

Administration Officials Urge Senate To Ratify START

By Kyle LaFleur - Talk Radio News Service

White House officials are urging a key Senate panel to quickly ratify the New START Treaty. The treaty, which U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev signed back in April, aims to reduce the number of nuclear weapons possessed by the two nations.

“Between us, the United States and Russia comprise about 90% of the worlds nuclear weapons so these reductions also support our goals of nonproliferation and will do so without jeopardizing the nuclear triad,” said DOD official James Miller during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will debate and likely vote on the treaty tomorrow. With Democrats controlling the majority of seats on the panel, passage is expected. However, Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) has said he doesn’t expect the treaty to reach the floor until after the midterm elections in early November.

According to the White House, the treaty will limit the amount of nuclear warheads both nations can have, but would not restrict the U.S.’s ability to deploy missile defenses in the event of an attack or severe threat. Miller said the treaty would allow for more frequent inspections of Russian nuclear facilities.

U.S. Pledges To Help Russia Fight Fires

President Barack Obama has promised to supply Russia with technical aid as the country struggles to contain a series of wildfires, according to a statement put out Friday by the White House.

During a phone call with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Thursday, Obama said that the USAID, the Defense Department, the U.S. Forest Service and the California state government will work to supply the European federation with firefighting equipment and airlift assistance.

“The American People stand with the people of Russia in this difficult time,” the White House statement reads.

The wildfires began late last month and have killed over 50 Russians.

Sec. of State Clinton Previews U.S. Agenda For U.N. General Assembly

By Ravi Bhatia, Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed Friday the U.S agenda for the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), touching on issues such as the Obama administration’s missile defense strategy, the conflict in the Middle East, nuclear proliferation and the threat posed by Iran.

While she read her speech at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., she discussed the “ambitious” intentions of the Obama administration at next week’s UNGA in New York, and alluded to a long term goal of a world “with no nuclear weapons.” While fielding questions, she reflected on the state of American foreign policy today.

“For many years, [the U.S] outsourced our policy and concerns about the nuclear program to others to try to intervene with and persuade Iran to change course,” she said. “So we were on the sidelines...we were just trying to figure out how to get other people to go on the field and deal with this problem and look where we are today. We’re really nowhere.”

Clinton also discussed the Obama administration’s missile defense strategy, which was retooled to focus on defending the United States and its allies in Europe from short and mid-range missile attacks. The strategy rejects the Bush administration's plan to station interceptors in the Czech Republic and Poland that were intended to stop long-range missiles that the current administration believes Iran does not have. Since Poland and the Czech Republic will no longer have land-based interceptors, the new plan eases pressure on Russia, displeasing some Republican members of Congress upon Obama’s announcement of the strategy on Thursday.

“This decision was not about Russia,” she said. “It was about Iran and the threat its ballistic missile program poses. Because of this position, we believe we will be in a far stronger position to deal with that threat and to do so with technology that works and a higher degree of confidence that what we pledge to do we can actually deliver.”

She later discussed Iran and the repercussions the country must face for not revealing its intentions to the international community for nuclear technology.

“Our concern is not Iran’s right to develop peaceful nuclear energy, but its responsibility to demonstrate that it’s program is intended exclusively for peaceful purposes,” she said. “This is not hard to do. The Iranian government seeks a sense of justice in the world, but stands in the way of the justice it seeks.”

In response to a question from Brookings Institute President Strobe Talbott, Clinton also discussed the U.S. government’s strategy for restructuring the country’s health care policy.

“It’s interesting that what we are proposing is fundamentally so conservative compared with so many of our friends and allies around the world, who do a much better job then we do in covering everybody and keeping costs down,” Clinton said. “And yet some of the political opposition is so overheated. We have to calm down here, take two aspirin, go to bed, think about it in the morning. But I’m optimistic.”

Republican Leadership Protests New Missile Defense Strategy

By Ravi Bhatia-Talk Radio News Service

A number of high ranking Congressional Republicans Thursday protested President Barack Obama’s recent decision to scrap an Eastern European based missile defense system.

Ranking Member of the House Committee on Armed Services Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Michael Turner and House Chairman Michael Pence (R-Ind.) all delivered statements.

“We’re seeing this administration’s real national security policy emerge,” McKeon said. “The administration is capitulating to Russia’s demands, rewarding Russia for its divisive policies and actions.”

The plan eliminates former President George W. Bush’s planned missile defense system, which would have deployed either a radar system in the Czech Republic or 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland in order to deter long range and short range missiles. Instead, the Obama administration will use a system aimed more toward intercepting shorter-range missiles from Iran, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes pose a more immediate threat.

“The sudden turnaround, the sudden release of new intelligence information - that has not come the way of the Hill - is puzzling, to say the least,” Cantor said. “We await the answers associated with that turnaround from our administration.”

Cantor also said that he hoped Vice President Joe Biden was “misquoted” when he said he was much less concerned about Iran because Iran does not have the potential capacity to launch a missile at the United States.

“To me, implicit in [Biden’s] statement is that we should not naturally concern ourselves with the threat to our allies in Europe, to our allies in the Middle East such as Israel,” Cantor said.

Acording to Michael Turner, the Obama administration has cut missile defense funding by $1.2 billion. He also said that the plan will not provide the United States with long range missile defense until 2020, while the former plan would have considered long range missile defense as early as 2013.

“They’re retreating from the deployment of a missile defense shield in Europe,” he said.

“The Obama administration is continuing a policy of appeasement at the expense of our allies,” Pence said. “History teaches that weakness and appeasement invite aggression against peaceful nations.”