STUNNING...AND SICKENING - AT 4:25 P.M. ET:  One of the great fears expressed when President Obama was named this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner was that the prize would affect his conduct of American foreign policy.  Our fear, apparently, was justified.  From AFP:

Moscow and Washington want to reach a deal on a key nuclear disarmament treaty before US President Barack Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, a Kremlin source was quoted as saying Friday.

The source, quoted in the Kommersant daily, said the Obama administration wanted to sign an agreement on replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) before the Nobel ceremony and that Moscow was willing to oblige.

"On December 10 the ceremony for awarding Nobel laureates will take place... Our partners want the document to be signed before the Nobel Peace Prize is given to Barack Obama," the Kremlin source was quoted as saying.

"We are not against this," he added, according to Kommersant.

Russian and US negotiators have been discussing a new pact to replace START, a landmark 1991 treaty that led to deep cuts in the two countries' nuclear arsenals, before it expires on December 5.

A deal on START would mark a major foreign policy success for Obama and would boost his stated vision of a world free of atomic weapons.

By coincidence, the treaty's expiration date comes just five days before Obama is due to visit Oslo to accept his Nobel Peace Prize.

COMMENT:  What can one say?  Our safety is dependent on the conduct of our national-security policy.  Look who's conducting it.  And look at the values and ethics implied by this story.

October 30, 2009