Boehner Critical Of Obama's "Reset" Policy With Russia

By Lisa Kellman

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned Americans of the threats Russia poses to the country, despite President Obama’s 2009 “reset” policy and insisted the Commander-in-Chief reconsider.

“The United States should insist Russia ‘reset’ its own policies. If those appeals require teeth, the House stands ready to approve them,” Boehner said during a rare speech on foreign policy.

Boehner’s many grievances with Russia range from the nation’s political, economical and physical expansion to the nationalization of its industries. The House Speaker also expressed concern over the relationship Russia has with dangerous regimes and its “general lack of democratic values.”

The Ohio Republican said Russia’s reappointment of Vladimir Putin aspresident who has called the fall of the Soviet Union “the greatest geo-political catastrophe of the 20th century,” has only served to reinforce concerns.

“Instead of downplaying Russia’s disregard for democratic values and human rights, we should call on them and call them out on it, publicly, forcefully and frequently,” Boehner said. “The United States should Insist Russia reset its own policies and if those appeals require teeth, the House is ready to approve them.”

House Dem Urges Supercommittee To Look At Nukes

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called on the Super Committee  at a news conference on Tuesday to make extensive cuts from the U.S. nuclear weapons budget over the next decade.

“The Soviets are long gone yet the stock piles remain,” Markey said, pointing out that there are currently 5,000 nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile that cost American tax payers $50 billion every year. 

“That makes no sense,” Markey declared. 

When asked by TRNS about the very real threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons, he passed the question along to General Robert Gard Jr., chairman of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

“We are not going to stop Iran from enriching Uranium by maintaing 5000 nuclear weapons in your stockpile,” Gard explained. “Getting down to 1000 nuclear weapons to deploy ought to be a sufficient warning to them that they probably ought not to imploy the weapons should they develop it.”

“We cannot make ourself any safer with more nuclear weapons,” Markey added. “America needs another nuclear weapon as much as Lady Gaga needs another outfit.” 

Markey advocated that the “excess” money used for nuclear weapons would be better utilized in funding for cancer and heart disease research institutions, healthcare for senior citizens and child nutrition programs.  

65 members of the House of Representatives have joined with Markey in this effort to cut $20 billion annually from the nuclear weapons program so that $200 billion could be used for funding family programs. 

“Simply put,” Markey concluded, “we must freeze the nukes and fund the future.”

Click here to see photos from today’s news conference 

Former Presidential Advisor And Others Reminisce Over End of Cold War

By Ravi Bhatia - Talk Radio News Service

Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, reflected on the final days of the Cold War at a discussion hosted by the German Marshall Fund at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on Monday.

“We wanted to encourage the liberalizing regimes, especially in Poland and in Hungary,” he said. “But we wanted to do it at a pace which would not bring about Soviet reaction as happened in Germany in ‘53, Hungary in ‘56, Czechoslovakia in ‘68. We didn’t know exactly what that was, but we were sort of feeling our way. How much should we encourage Eastern Europe? How much should we be cautious?”

Scowcroft spoke in a panel that included Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Germany, and Robert Kimmitt, former United States Ambassador to Germany. BBC World News Washington Correspondent Katty Kay presided over the discussion, which was held in honor of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which occurred on Nov. 9, 1989.

A barrier separating Eastern and Western Germany, the Berlin Wall symbolized the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Soviet Union-dominated Eastern Bloc. The fall of the wall tends to be synonymous with the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

[Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989] believed one can reform socialism,” said Genscher. “Later, he had to learn that you could not reform socialism, you could only overcome socialism. That happened in 1989.”