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from the pulling-out-is-the-best-prevention dept.
Trump to Pull US Out of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the US is pulling out of the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, a decades-old agreement that has drawn the ire of the President.
[...] The treaty forced both countries to eliminate ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between approximately 300 and 3,400 miles. It offered a blanket of protection to the United States' European allies and marked a watershed agreement between two nations at the center of the arms race during the Cold War.
Former State Department spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby, a CNN military and diplomatic analyst, explained that the treaty "wasn't designed to solve all of our problems with the Soviet Union," but was "designed to provide a measure of some strategic stability on the continent of Europe."
"It's the dirt that does it."
Donald Trump: US will build up nuclear arsenal
President Donald Trump has warned that the US will bolster its nuclear arsenal to put pressure on Russia and China. Speaking to reporters, he repeated his belief that Russia has violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which he has threatened to leave. Russia denies this.
The Cold War-era treaty banned medium-range missiles, reducing the perceived Soviet threat to European nations.
Russia has warned it will respond in kind if the US develops more weapons. Mr Trump said the US would build up its arsenal "until people come to their senses".
[...] Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser John Bolton has been holding talks in Moscow after Russia condemned the US plan to quit the deal. Mr Bolton was told that the US withdrawal would be a "serious blow" to the non-proliferation regime.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:48AM (6 children)
You'd have Russia able to nuke us by violating this, China able to nuke us by not having signed it, and both of them able to nuke us by ICBMs and SLBMs and plain old bombs that are not covered by the treaty. Oh, also embassy nukes, probably with ambassadors who don't even know what is in the mysterious locked safe in their office. Why do you hate America?
But anyway, nuclear war is survivable. You can't avoid war by refusing to fight; we call that "losing". Nuclear war sucks, but it has a few upsides. For example, notice how our cities voted in 2016. Fixing that is a plus. Maybe the surviving illegal aliens would even go home if we got nuked.
Oh, I have one for a lefty! Want to reduce carbon emissions? The USA and Russia are huge producers of fossil fuels, and the USA is a big consumer. Nuclear war could be your solution to global warming.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @07:38AM
You know what? Mass suicide is a cheaper option. I'd suggest you go on with that right away - even better, you'll starve the "big government" from the taxes you pay.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday October 24 2018, @07:39AM (1 child)
I always figured they did, and while it would have been more difficult, I always figured the US had Bombs buried in the Soviet Union.
A former Soviet spy told the US that he knew of several and actually led the authorities to one - but just that one, he didn't know where any of the others were.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday October 25 2018, @04:26PM
Hmmm. Nukes require periodic maintenance. Not sure precisely how often though (and I suspect anyone who has that knowledge won't be sharing). I would expect less than a decade, and much less for certain configurations (e.g. short half life neutron initiators, boosted fission/fusion).
.
Admittedly, we're talking the Russians and they never make anything as maintenance dependent as we do here, but even so anything untouched since the Soviet era is going to be well past its use-by date.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 5, Informative) by driverless on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:03AM
It's OK, Trump will be meeting his boss for his annual performance review [bbc.com] next month, I'm sure he'll be told how to play things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @02:45PM
I hear Luke Skywalker's voice.... "Amazing, every word you just wrote is wrong." Though interesting flamebait and troll.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:33PM
Orange AC Bad....
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды