Negotiation means you do what I say.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=169438&f=77

McCain had a big foreign policy speech yesterday and I was struck by a few things...

-There is an episode of family guy where Peter is attempting to haggle and goes from $1 to a million to fifty before Brian jumps in and apologizes that 'he doesn't know how to bargain'. This is what I think of when I read mccain's Russia policy. There is definitely space for a reinvigorated START process and further huge reduction in nukes. But it won't work if your larger strategic context is 'how do we emasculate russia?'.

-McCain talks about shifting the burden of proof onto countries that are charged with trying to build nukes. Who decides whether a country is pursuing a covert program? And in the shadow of Iraq - which was invaded because it couldn't prove it did not have the programs it did not actually have - what does that burden look like (keeping in mind it is impossible to prove something doesn't exist)? Finally, do we need to move to a more universal process (remember Israel, Pakistan, and India are not npt members), and if so what are the shape of those norms?