The Arms Control Association is having its annual Arms Control Person of the Year competition again. There is a good selection of people and organizations on the list which can be broken down into those who done something and those who have proclaimed something.
I think Jeffrey Lewis at Arms Control Wonk summed things up quite nicely with his post lamenting the eagerness of those voting to pile in on behalf of Barack Obama. The contrast between Senator Richard Lugar and President Barack Obama is actually that much clearer given that Obama, during his none-too-long stay in the U.S. Senate actually took a trip to Russia with Lugar to look at the work being done under the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program.
Senator Lugar has been working on CTR issues for the better part of two decades now and has helped to sustain this program in the face of indifference or even opposition from the Executive Office. He has kept his eye on the goal and although it is a pity the Russians are more willing or able to pay up to fulfill their treaty obligations the important point has been and continues to be that we all benefit by Russia destroying its stockpiles of chemical and nucelar weapons. In contrast the Obama adminstration has no arms control acheivements or accomplishments to its name after almost a year in office. Apart from some widely reported speeches and expressions of intent in the nuclear weapons area the main accomplishment has been to aggravate those seeking to make the Biological Weapons Convention more robust by adopting a public position that is essentially that of the Bush administration.
So I am going to join Jeffrey in voting for Dick Lugar, and recommend that anyone who is remotely interested in these issues go to the Arms Control Association’s website and do the same.