The Landmark U.S.-Russia Arms Control Treaty Is Dead

[Soph0571]

Source: Time

A landmark arms control treaty that President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed three decades ago is dead, prompting fears of a new global arms race.

The United States and Russia both walked away from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty on Friday. If they choose not to extend or replace the larger New START treaty when it expires in early 2021, there will be no legally binding limits on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals for the first time in nearly a half century.

The U.S. blames Russia for the demise of the treaty, saying that for years Moscow has been developing and fielding weapons that violate the treaty and threaten the U.S. and its allies, particularly in Europe.

But without the constraints of the treaty, the Trump administration says it can now counter Russia — and China. The U.S. has complained for years of an unfair playing field — that Russia was developing weapons that violated the treaty and China, which wasn’t a signatory, was developing similar weapons that would have violated it, too.

Read more: https://time.com/5642337/us-russia-inf-treaty-dead/

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Oh goody, a new arms race, a new cold war? Putin and Trump in charge of the codes.. nothing could go wrong here then!

[Roy Rolling]

1. Idiot Response

Until Trump, the U.S. negotiated from a position of strength.

Sure, other nations cheat, but some agreement is better than no agreement. A country can walk away from the negotiating table, they can’t walk away from the planet Earth. They must be dealt with, one way or another.

The U.S. should have a better way than allowing others to abandon treaties, because having no treaties is what true enemies want.

[MBS]

4. +1 n/t

[Igel]

10. I didn't like the treaty.

US had its hands tied; so did Russia.

This worked as long as (a) the US respected the treaty, (b) Russia respected the treaty, and (c) China wasn't a player.

Years ago China started amassing precisely the kind of weapons that the treaty the US and Russia had signed kept in balance. There was no balance.

Then Russia decided it was best for it to ignore the treaty. That left one country adhering to the treaty.

Enemies don't think "no treaty" is what true enemies want. No, Russia would love for the US to continue to be bound by the treaty. Then Russia could able to amass as many intermediate-range ICBMs as it wants while the US says, "No, we'll continue to limit our weapons."

China was glad that the US's hands were tied. China had no treaty and could do as it wanted while the US could, at best, move its missile stock around.

[Hortensis]

12. Made perfect sense to the Birchers back then and

just as much to most of the hard right now. Those types always believe the only answer to any military threat is to smash it into oblivion. Seriously -- this and they HAVE been intensively studied.

ALL negotiations and treaties, including nuclear disarmament and test bans, are believed, with great anxiety and anger, to be crippling weaknesses that will lead to our destruction. They've literally lead to widespread hysteria and protests in the past. The insane opposition to the Iran accord in this era was a manifestation, as is support for the cancellation of this treaty.

Some have always argued the need for these things in scholarly manner, but they're always outnumbered by those who express it very simply as the need to destroy them before they destroy us, unconditional surrender the only alternative they can accept. An awful lot of people believe in the need to murder 50 million at the push of a button and will support it unquestioningly. For many this is all tied up with End Times, Satan, Armageddon, etc, of course, and the Trump administration is packed with True Believers, on whom he depends for political survival.

You may be sincere in believing this is a necessary step for nuclear powers to take, but beware of the ideological company you're keeping in arguing for the removal of what leashes we have -- defending it as a need to reestablish something like the stable security (that is sarcasm) of the days of MAD.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. But but but it was Saint Ronnie! . . . nt

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Raygun got thrown under the bus by the GOP RW loons during Obama's 2 terms.

Who woulda thought something could ever defeat the zombie Raygun but here we are.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. What could possibly go wrong? The planet now has the LOWEST number of nuclear warheads since 1957...

but still enough to destroy the place. A new arms race now? And with China, NK, and Iran involved?

The Doomsday Clock is down to 2 minutes, but doesn't yet seem to have absorbed the latest news..


https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/doomsday-dashboard/

[watoos]

6. Actually N. Korea is more dangerous than Iran now,

thanks to Trump. Iran isn't enriching uranium to weapon's grade.

Something that a real reporter should ask Trump under the helicopter, is N. Korea still enriching uranium? Trump isn't worried about those intermediate range missile tests, what about enriching uranium? How many more bombs has N. Korea produced under Trump?

[procon]

5. Trump is a reckless fool.

He didn't learn a damn thing after blowing up treaties with Iran, No. Korea, China, NAFTA, or TPP, and now he wants to start a new nuclear arms race with Russia.

If he objected to any of the treaty agreements the US has made, then he shouldn't have torched the painstaking diplomatic work of months or even years. Instead of renegotiating these treaties to reach a better agreement, Trump decides to throw away all of our leverage and power to control the situation, handing our enemies the upper hand.

Trump ends up trying to reinvent the wheel with opponents are now under no obligation to even show up at the negotiating table, and have every right to be suspicious of Trump's ability to keep his word.

How much of Trump's treaty trashing is related to his OCD behavior in trying to destroy everything that Obama did or endorsed?

[Bayard]

8. I'm betting this is something tRump and Putin

Talk about in their little private chats. Putin is promising this moron he will make him life-long king of America. Putting on my tinfoil hat, this could be why he's so terrified of Mueller and Congress--won't give him enough time to bring this plan to fruition.

[Maxheader]

9. More taxes...

It will take more taxes..and with the revenues lost from cheetox tax for
the 1%ers..Guess who will get the bill?

[olddad65]

11. Just another day in Amerussia.