Kumbaya!

Big doings this past weekend, most of which occurred Saturday night and very early Sunday morning. First of all, the Norks defied the entire world (except perhaps for Iran and a few other rogue regimes) and launched their prototype ICBM (which failed, according to the NYT), just hours before President Obama invited the world to join hands with him and sing a few choruses of Kumbaya. The president, speaking in Prague yesterday (transcript here):

So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. (Applause.) I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly -- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, "Yes, we can." (Applause.)

Now, let me describe to you the trajectory we need to be on. First, the United States will take concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same. Make no mistake: As long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies -- including the Czech Republic. But we will begin the work of reducing our arsenal.

To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year. (Applause.) President Medvedev and I began this process in London, and will seek a new agreement by the end of this year that is legally binding and sufficiently bold. And this will set the stage for further cuts, and we will seek to include all nuclear weapons states in this endeavor.

To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. (Applause.) After more than five decades of talks, it is time for the testing of nuclear weapons to finally be banned.

And to cut off the building blocks needed for a bomb, the United States will seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons. If we are serious about stopping the spread of these weapons, then we should put an end to the dedicated production of weapons-grade materials that create them. That's the first step.

Sweet Mother of God. While this may not be unilateral disarmament it’s most definitely its first cousin. The president says he’s “not naïve,” but I beg to differ. And I’m not alone, either. Here’s former Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking on Fox News Sunday:

Just in case you didn’t watch the video all the way to the end… here’s what I think is the most important bit… Newt on Obama’s “no nukes” speech (complete FNS transcript here):

WALLACE: Mr. Gingrich, what do you make of the president's speech today in which he called for new limits and, in fact, the elimination, eventually, as a goal, of all nuclear weapons at the same time, as I discussed with David Axelrod, that he wants a cut in missile defense?

GINGRICH: There's a fascinating analysis of Jimmy Carter's Notre Dame speech when he spoke at the commencement in 1977. And that was the moment in which Carter's fantasy view of the world became clear, and the beginning, I think, of the end of his -- of his administration. The president's in a world where Hamas is firing missiles every day into Israel, Iran is building nuclear weapons, and the North Koreans today during -- basically during his speech fired a missile, and he has some wonderful fantasy idea that we're going to have a great meeting next year.

With who? I mean, who's coming to this meeting? The Pakistanis? The Indians? The Chinese? The Russians? And what are they going to promise? And why would you believe them?

I just think that it's very dangerous to have a fantasy foreign policy, and it can get you in enormous trouble, just like giving -- you know, we don't have a war on terror anymore. We don't have terrorist attacks anymore. So now homeland security has manmade disasters.

I'm somehow not comforted with the thought that 9/11 was a manmade disaster but not a terrorist attack, and I'm not comforted with words instead of serious systematic policies.

It’s worse than it looks, actually. The president’s announced policy very likely means our current nuclear arsenal, which is in serious need of upgrading due to reliability issues, will NOT be upgraded. From Saturday’s WSJ (“To Russia With Love; Degrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal.”):

What Mr. Obama wants to kill specifically is the Reliable Replacement Warhead, which the Bush Administration supported over Congressional opposition, and which Mr. Obama now opposes despite the support of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the military. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told us this week that "we do need a new warhead." When we asked about Mr. Obama's views on the warhead, the Admiral said, "You would have to ask him."

The RRW is not, in fact, a new weapon; it has been in development for several years and is based on the W89 design tested in the 1980s. It is said to be a remarkably safe and long-lasting warhead, a significant consideration given the gradual physical deterioration of the current U.S. arsenal, particularly the mainstay W76.

The irony is that Mr. Obama's opposition is making substantial reductions in the total U.S. arsenal that much riskier. In the absence of actual testing, which hasn't happened in the U.S. since 1992, the only real hedge against potentially defective weapons is a larger arsenal. Naturally, arms-control theologians are instead urging the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and ban the production of weapons grade uranium and plutonium.

The thinking here is that somehow the American example will get Russia, as well as North Korea, Pakistan and perhaps Iran, to reject nuclear weapons. In fact, a U.S. nuclear arsenal that is diminished in both quantity and quality would be an incentive for these countries to increase their nuclear inventories, since the door would suddenly be opened to reach strategic parity with the last superpower. Mr. Medvedev, for one, recently announced Russia would pursue "large-scale rearmament" of its army and navy, including nuclear arsenals.

France also plans to deploy new sea-based nuclear missiles next year, even as it reduces the overall size of its arsenal. The French understand that a credible nuclear deterrent requires modern and reliable weapons. The Obama Administration should understand that the best security for both the U.S. and the allies that rely on our nuclear umbrella lies in an unchallengeable arsenal, and not an invitation to the world's Mahmoud Ahmadinejads to compete on equal terms.

(Background on the RRW here.)

While Mr. Obama may not be naïve, he apparently believes in fairy tales... or their foreign policy/defense policy equivalents. I wouldn’t have a problem with that if he were only a private citizen and not the president of the United States. We live in a dangerous world… a world where power is respected and weakness is exploited. The policy Mr. Obama announced in Prague will be interpreted as a sign of American weakness in the world’s dark corners, at the very best. I hesitate to speculate what the worst case scenario might entail, but I’m sure it’s NOT something Americans would welcome. And while it’s true the president went to some (small) length to assure the world the US is not unilaterally disarming, he’s coming perilously close to doing just that. I’m afraid the Prague speech was just the first step in what will be an irreversible slide down a slippery slope.

I dunno about you, Gentle Reader, but I feel a whole helluva lot less safe today than I did before I went to bed Saturday night. The other shoe will drop sometime today when Secretary Gates announces the administration’s proposed cuts in major defense programs. I can hardly wait.

Yep… elections have consequences. I only hope the change doesn’t kill us.