The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty looks like it’s getting close to ratification this week. Josh Rogin counts the votes at Foreign Policy and finds seven Republicans on board; the treaty needs nine Republicans to get to the requisite 67 votes, and negotiations to amend the so-called “resolution of ratification” (instead of amending the treaty itself) seem on track to attract the missing two votes.

I know everyone is super-excited about this — what gets the blood running like arms control debates? OK, almost anything does. And in this case that’s quite proper. As Cathy Young laid out in an smart column two weeks ago, this treaty doesn’t matter much one way or another, and “its victory in Congress will not be the achievement the Obama Administration will undoubtedly tout.” The nice thing about passing the treaty, though, is that it means that (per the Bob Kagan argument mentioned in this space last month) the Obama administration will not be able to blame the Senate when the “reset” policy with Russia inevitably fails.