Trump Loves Nukes!

[BoSoxGal]

Trump says US will withdraw from nuclear arms treaty with Russia
Experts warn of ‘most severe crisis in nuclear arms control since the 1980s’ as Trump confirms US will leave INF agreement

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... aty-russia

[Bicycle Bill]

Trump says US will withdraw from nuclear arms treaty with Russia
Experts warn of ‘most severe crisis in nuclear arms control since the 1980s’ as Trump confirms US will leave INF agreement

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... aty-russia

I'm old enough to remember the Eisenhower-era program known as "Atoms for Peace". Instead of worrying about nuclear weapons, maybe we can turn some of our best and brightest minds back to something like that.

Let's face it ... nuclear power works. The US Navy has something like 160 'nuclear wessels' currently in commission — the entire active carrier fleet is nuke-powered as is much of the navy's front-line missile (Ohio-class) and attack submarine (Los Angeles, Seawolf, and Virginia-class) force... and our safety record for both our marine reactors as well as our land-based nuclear power-generating plants is nearly spotless — a statement that frankly cannot be made by the oil, coal, or natural gas industries ... or, for that matter, by the companies that transport these materials on our railroads, highways, and waterways.

I'm sure the same minds that Trump wants to focus on such things as high-tech weaponry or a return to space (with a Kennedy-esque comment about putting a man on Mars) could readily find a better way of generating power through atomic energy — fusion rather than fission, for example — or dealing with depleted nuclear fuel or radioactive waste other than just locking it away somewhere and hoping it stays untouched for a couple of millennia or so.

-"BB"-

[Lord Jim]

Well, the Russians have been in violation of this treaty for sometime:

Concern about the treaty’s future arose in 2014, when the Obama administration charged Russia with violating the treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile of intermediate range. Trump administration officials in 2017 charged that Russia had begun deploying the missile, known as the 9M729.

The Obama administration and, at least initially, the Trump administration set the goal of bringing Russia back into compliance. In December 2017, Washington announced an “integrated strategy” to press Moscow to return to compliance.

So far, the strategy does not seem to have worked.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-fr ... nf-treaty/

If we had a responsible President, (which obviously we do not) this could be seen as an acceptable tactic to try get the Russians to negociate seriously about moving back into verifiable compliance. Under the terms of the treaty, six months notice is required to formally withdraw from the treaty (Trump's announcement started that clock running) and then there would be another fairly long timeline before realistically any type of new generation intermediate nukes could be deployed, so there's plenty of time to reach some sort of agreement.

A responsible President would also have taken this move in consultation with our European allies, (who after all are the ones directly affected, and on whose soil any new offensive or defensive systems would be deployed) not just announce the decision unilaterally on a Saturday afternoon....

But with this President, there is absolutely no reason to believe that this decision was driven by any sort of concern for Western strategic security concerns. First, Trump has been indifferent and dismissive about Western European security in general, so it would seem odd that he would suddenly start caring about it. And of course he has also shown zero appetite for confronting Vladimir Putin over anything, so that also undermines the motivation and sincerity of this sudden decision...

No, with this President, this looks nothing like a well thought out strategic move to enhance US and European security. It looks, walks, and quacks exactly like a classic Trump shiny object diversion move, designed to try to deflect attention from the scandal currently dominating the news cycle; the Khashoggi murder...

[liberty]

I thought Trump is a Russian puppet; shouldn’t he be ignoring these Russian violations. Why didn’t Obama do anything?

[Lord Jim]

I thought Trump is a Russian puppet;

Exactly; that's why (as I pointed out) Trump's stated motive for doing this isn't credible, and why there must be another explanation...

Why didn’t Obama do anything?

Because not doing anything was a foundational principle of the Obama foreign policy doctrine...(I'm sure he gave Putin a good talking to, just like he did about Russian interference in the 2016 election.)

Lib, if you're looking for a defense of Barack Obama's foreign policy decisions (particularly regarding Russia) you wont be getting it from me...

But Obama's naive and misguided approach to Russian doesn't make Donald Trump any less a subservient and willing tool of Vladimir Putin...

[Econoline]

From Charlie Pierce:

• The administration* claims that Russia is in violation of the treaty by developing a truck-born missile with a longer range than the Russians say it has. This may or may not be plausible, but the fact remains that there is a treaty in place that provides a mechanism for solving the dispute short of pulling out of the treaty entirely and stuffing Central Europe full of our next generation of nukes. But, because the president* is a simpleton surrounded by fantasists, any minor breakdown—real or imagined—in a treaty is an excuse for the United States to withdraw entirely because America First, or something.
  
  This treaty is a living monument to what Gorbachev wrought in Russia and to Ronald Reagan's presidency—if you're into something like that. (It was at the signing of this INF treaty that Reagan famously first used the Russian proverb, "Trust, but verify.") It was a shock when Gorbachev agreed to it, and it was one of the first indications that the USSR was coming apart at the seams. At the time, there were massive anti-nuclear demonstrations here and in Europe; it was the issue over which a government in West Germany fell in 1983. It is argued that the INF treaty has become obsolete as weaponry has become more sophisticated, but, again, simply abrogating our part in it is hardly an answer.
  
  The relationship between this administration* and Russia is utterly incoherent at the moment, and central Europe hasn't been a nuclear volleyball court for decades. There is no reason to trust this administration*, and that's pretty much verified at this point.

[Econoline]

One possible explanation:

• Another "tough on Russia" potemkin trick. In fact, Putin wanted out of this treaty on intermediate range missiles. Why? It utterly benefits the US! We got to keep intermediate range air- and sea-launched missiles while the Russia-favored land-launched varieties were banned. Dig it. This is not Trump being tough on Putin, it is him being Putin's guy.

(source) I can't verify the accuracy of this but, given what we know about Trump and Putin, it does make sense.