VK, I wasn't making a direct point-by-point comparison of this summit and Obama's current military agenda with Reagan's negotiations with Russia. I was looking at the world as a whole. Not just the nuclear negotiations. I was taking liberties hoping the reader could see the similarities in our modern world and Reagan's Evil Empire Speech where he decries the decline of morals in our country, world evils, communism, extremists and dictators; and substitute that with today's "evil empires," "axis of evil" and "rogue states."

I believe Obama's vision is much different than just simply a world with no nuclear weapons. That is the reason I included Obama's college article, to just put one more piece of this puzzle of Obama's agenda together. Obama's agenda frightens me.

When Reagan said "I ask you to resist the attempts of those who would have you withhold your support for our efforts, this administration's efforts, to keep America strong and free, while we negotiate real and verifiable reductions in the world's nuclear arsenals and one day, with God's help, their total elimination.
"While America's military strength is important, let me add here that I've always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith," he didn't stutter calling a spade a spade.



"Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness -- pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.

"It was C.S. Lewis who, in his unforgettable 'Screwtape Letters,' wrote: The greatest evil is not done now in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-Shavian cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.

"Well, because these 'quiet men' do not 'raise their voices'; because they sometimes speak in soothing tones of brotherhood and peace; because, like other dictators before them, they're always making 'their final territorial demand,' some would have us accept them at their word and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive impulses. But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.

"So, I urge you to speak out against those who would place the United States in a position of military and moral inferiority. You know, I've always believed that old Screwtape reserved his best efforts for those of you in the church. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride -- the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil."

I wonder what Reagan and Anatoly Dobrynin, who negotiated arms treaties, helped settle the Cuban Missile Crisis and was the dean of Washington's international diplomatic corps during his 24 years as Soviet ambassador to the United States and who just died last week on April 6, would make of it of the current summit.

I think Ron Marks, Senior Vice President for Government Relations, Oxford-Analytica, sums up my feelings.

"First, just when the White House staff got the President to stop bowing to foreign leaders; he now declares a no nuke use against countries that don’t have them. A lovely set of Marquis of Queensbury rules in a civilized world. Sadly, while we play chess games on this issue, others such as Iran will be laughing. International relations are not chess. They are poker. And you never let go of your hole card. In other words, never take an option off the table. It makes you look weak. And Tehran and Pyongyang eat this kind of behavior for breakfast.

"As for the goal of overall reduction and control of weapons, well the Russians and we still have ninety percent of them. So that seems like a nice idea – especially since the Russians have been a bit sloppy about maintenance and how they are stored. And, if we think the Russians are going to horse trade us on this for stiff Iran sanctions, we are about to be strongly disappointed.

"Moscow will do what it can to keep an Islamic neighbor marginally neutral. They have enough internal problems with radical Muslims. Like Senators Kyl and McCain, I too am worried about keeping the money up for maintaining our forces. Reduction often means Washington is reluctant to spend the money to update and upgrade weapons. These weapons represent our biggest military response. They must be the best and at all times be ready.

"Treaties like this also remind me of the London Conference in 1935-36 to reduce battleships. Everyone started reducing forces, but in the end, they also armed and rearmed in different, but in equally deadly ways. For instance, where are we on other WMD’s like biological and chemical – the poor man’s nukes? And, while far less lethal, what’s going in cyberspace where we are clearly getting our clock cleaned in this new increasingly militarized frontier.

"In the final analysis, this is a feel good event. I don’t see how in the world it makes a bit of difference to the people who are the most worrisome – Iran, North Korea and every Al Qaeda franchisee on the planet. It will offer little beyond the good citizens of the world saying they will continue to be good citizens. The bad boys could care less."