GOP Sacrifies National Security for Petty Hatred of Obama, Reporter Says

Republicans' national security ballyhoo is, apparently, just empty chatter. President Obama's START nuclear treaty with Russia would be a landmark step in the direction of global peace, and the final chapter in the history of the Cold War and stabilize governments. But the GOP is putting its own petty interests ahead of the treaty, threatening to derail the treaty and “embarrass” the President over protecting the national safety of Americans. In an interview with ABC's This Week. Financial Times writer Edward Luce said failure to ratify START could portend global disaster.

"Russia's cooperation is something Obama has worked on very successfully, very patiently... for two years now and this puts that in jeopardy."

He added that Republicans, set about their agenda to make Obama a one-term president, may ultimately go about it unintelligently.

"Pick two countries that would like to see a failure of ratification: it would be North Korea and Iran," Luce continued. "I think if that argument doesn't work with the Republicans, that sort of basic, elemental national security argument doesn't work, nothing is. There is a greater hatred of Obama than there is a love of American national security."

In Obama's radio address this week, he laid out exactly what is at stake. "Without ratification this year, the United States will have no inspectors on the ground, and no ability to verify Russian nuclear activities. Without ratification, we put at risk the coalition that we have built to put pressure on Iran, and the transit route through Russia that we use to equip our troops in Afghanistan," he said. "The choice is clear: a failure to ratify New START would be a dangerous gamble with America's national security, setting back our understanding of Russia's nuclear weapons, as well as our leadership in the world."

Watch Luce discuss START with Christiane Amanpour, Mike Mullen and others on This Week: