Vladimir Putin’s hand-picked president is on the verge of making another move to please the Russians.
According to The New York Times, “The Trump administration is preparing to tell Russian leaders next week that it is planning to exit the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.”
As The Hill noted on Saturday, “The 1987 pact bans all land-based missile with ranges of 310 to 3,420 miles and includes missiles carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads. The original ban between Moscow and Washington resulted in 2,692 missiles being destroyed.”
The treaty worked well for years, despite recent Russian violations. Killing it would remove any incentive for Moscow to even pretend they care about the limits the treaty imposed.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Not only could Russia use cruise and intermediate-range ballistic missiles to its heart’s desire, but the United States currently doesn’t have any weapon to match what Moscow has.
The Brookings Institution explains:
[O]nce the United States withdraws from the treaty, there is no reason for Russia to even pretend it is observing the limits. Moscow will be free to deploy the 9M729 cruise missile, and an intermediate-range ballistic missile if it wants, without any restraint.
…
[T]he United States currently has no missile that it could quickly deploy to match the Russians. The “integrated strategy†included a treaty-compliant research and development program for a U.S. intermediate-range missile (development is allowed short of flight-testing), but it provided little money.
…
U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty is a loser all around. Russian officials probably are celebrating the news.
Trump has been Putin’s dream
When Hillary Clinton said Donald Trump would be a puppet for Vladimir Putin, she couldn’t have been more right. That culminated over the summer when Trump stood before the world and sided with Russia over the United States.
Throughout his presidency, he has threatened our NATO alliances and isolated the United States from some of our closest allies, all while holding brutal dictators and autocrats close – from Russia to North Korea to Saudi Arabia.
Donald Trump is being played by some of America’s most dangerous adversaries, and it could have devastating consequences.
Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
