Russian media: The missile defense provision in the new START treaty is legally binding

Hot Air  "Moscow apparently has a different view of the preamble.
"ITAR-Tass, the main Russian government information agency, reported last week: “The treaty will have a legally binding provision on the link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons and will affirm the increasing importance of this link amid the reduction of strategic offensive weapons.”
"Several Republican-authored amendments to the treaty that sought to alter the preamble were voted down, based in part on assertions that the preamble had no legal standing."   Emphasis added.

We need nuclear modernization whether the treaty is ratified or not. "But the fact that the administration has revised its policy for the better is in itself no reason for any senator to endorse START. While senators may judge that the treaty deserves support on its merits, it is misguided to suggest that support is warranted as a quid pro quo for the administration’s belated decision to ramp up its investment in our nuclear defense complex. Neither Jon Kyl nor any other senator should cast a vote for START—or any other significant measure—because the president and his team have come to their senses on a matter as critical to our national security as the modernization of the weapons complex. The START treaty and beefed up funding for our nuclear enterprise are two separate issues that should remain distinct."
Spencer Abraham, chairman and CEO of the Abraham Group, was secretary of energy from 2001 to 2005.