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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, @09:27AM (1 child)
It's one thing to use Trump's dickish approach to negotiating a business deal in the construction industry where everyone is generally familiar with a common culture. It's very different to make these threats on an international scale involving cultures that are not only very different than America's, but cultures he doesn't understand and refuses to learn about.
And let's not forget the only two things Trump measures in any situation: his own ego and money. I don't see an "America will make a profit" angle to this (unless he intends to sell nuclear weapons to other countries), so this is only about his ego.
What I don't understand is how Trump, who is subservient to all authoritarian regimes, can negotiate any treaty with Putin (or Xi) that benefits America. Perhaps pulling out of the treaty is something that benefits Putin's intentions regarding other international moves Putin wants to make.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @05:29AM
Maybe it is time some of those other cultures also learned to deal with other people's cultures instead of everyone having to conform to theirs.
I'm not USAian, but if I was, when some dickwad in bumfuckistan says "you must do things this way because it is our culture", I'd be tempted to say "well, our culture says we bomb the shit out of people who piss us off by telling us what to do".