The recent Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, signed by the United States and Russia in April, is expected to reach a Senate vote later this year. New START, if ratified, will serve as a replacement for START I, which expired last December.

Of course, to be ratified, the new agreement must have the votes of 67 U.S. senators. And, predictably, voices like Mitt Romney, Senator Jim DeMint, and the Heritage Foundation are scrambling to find reasons to oppose it.

Looking closer, however, their reluctance is hard to understand. The treaty explicitly tells Russia that American missile plans in Europe do not affect its security, according to a White House blog post. That’s a pretty important accomplishment, considering the Bush administration’s failure to extract the same concession.

In other words, the agreement paves the way for more U.S. missiles in places like Poland and the Baltic states