The Senate ratified the New START treaty yesterday by a vote of 71-26. The victory is a sweet success for one of Massachusetts Peace Action’s top 2010 priorities. We thank you for the many calls our members and supporters have made and messages you have sent. They worked!

The U.S.-Russia treaty reduces the maximum number of strategic warheads and launchers, and provides for on-site inspections. It is the first arms control treaty with Russia in eight years and the most substantial one since the original START treaty of 1991. Many nuclear and non nuclear countries consider the ratification of the START Treaty as a critical step toward nuclear disarmament because it puts the U.S.-Russia arms control process back on track and opens the door to additional steps, which could include a tactical arms treaty, a fissile materials treaty, the comprehensive test ban treaty, a Middle East nuclear free zone, and non-proliferation efforts.

Thirteen Republicans, including Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, broke with their leadership and sided with Democrats, military leaders and past secretaries of state and defense who supported the treaty. Mitch McConnell, minority leader, Jon Kyl, minority whip, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham, led the opposition. The opponents fear that with power slippping worldwide, the U.S. will lose its global hegemony unless it retains nuclear supremacy. Administration and military treaty proponents seek to sustain a bloc of nuclear powers in order to prevent proliferation to regimes the U.S. dislikes, while still maintaining a U.S. nuclear edge.
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December 15 – The START Treaty was voted onto the Senate floor this afternoon by a vote of 66-32. We are very pleased that Senator Scott Brown was among 9 Republicans who voted to get the treaty done.

While Sen. Brown has still not announced how he will vote on the treaty, this is a favorable sign. Please call Senator Brown’s office at 617-565-3170 and say thank you for this vote — and ask him again to commit to vote for the treaty.

Massachusetts Peace Action delivered 450 petition signatures today calling on Sen. Brown to ratify New START. The signatures were gathered with the help of WILPF and AFSC. At right, Susanne Porte and Guntram Mueller of the Mass. Peace Action board pass the signatures to Jack Richard, counsel to Sen. Brown.

Read our talking points on the treaty!

Afghanistan Call to Reason: Experts with decades of experience in the country call on President Obama to change course and push for a peace settlement and exit strategy.

An Open Letter to President Obama

Mr. President,

We have been engaged and working inside Afghanistan, some of us for decades, as academics, experts and members of non-governmental organizations. Today we are deeply worried about the current course of the war and the lack of credible scenarios for the future. The cost of the war is now over $120 billion per year for the United States alone. This is unsustainable in the long run. In addition, human losses are increasing. Over 680 soldiers from the international coalition – along with hundreds of Afghans – have died this year in Afghanistan, and the year is not yet over. We appeal to you to use the unparalleled resources and influence which the United States now brings to bear in Afghanistan to achieve that longed-for peace.
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Massachusetts Peace Action is seeking students, recent graduates, or young activists who can commit 8-10 hours per week from January to May.   The position is unpaid.  Start and end dates are flexible.   We can work with you to receive academic credit or get additional funding if you are work-study eligible.  If there is interest, there is the possibility of extending the internship into the summer.   Our office is located in Harvard Square, Cambridge.
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