President Donald Trump announced Oct. 20 his intent to scrap the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty signed Dec. 8, 1987 by former President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Violations by Russia over the last 30 years prompted Trump to cancel the treaty, inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to re-negotiate a new treaty. “I’m terminating the agreement because they violated the agreement,” said Trump. “I’m terminating the agreement,” repeating for emphasis the fact that the INF treaty is no longer in the national security interest of the United States. Considered a major breakthrough when the INF went into effect June 1, 1988, it reduced intermediate-range nuclear missiles from 64,000 to 15,000, a positive step forward in nuclear disarmament. Signing the INF treaty helped further détente between the U.S. and Soviet Union.
Reacting to Trump’s decision, 87-year-old Gorbachev called the decision “not the work of a great mind,” insulting Trump for doing what’s right in today’s atmosphere. “Russia has not, unfortunately, honored the agreement, so we’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out,” Trump told reporters Oct. 22 at Nevada political rally. “We are going to terminate the agreement and then we are going to develop the weapons,” Trump said, unless Russia and China agree to re-negotiate the deal. Gorbachev warned Trump that canceling the pact could lead to unintended consequences, calling the decision “very strange.” Gorbachev admits nothing about Putin violating the treaty creating more nuclear missiles with a range between 300 and 3,100 miles “Do they really not understand in Washington what this can lead to,” said Gorbachev, urging Congress to stop Trump.
If it’s true the Putin’s Russian Federation has violated the terms of the INF, it should be Gorbachev who admits that the U.S. has every right to see the treaty enforced. Saying it “will undermine all the efforts that were made by the leaders of the U.S.S.R. and the United States themselves to achieve nuclear disarmament,” Gorbachev admits nothing about how the Russian Federation violated the agreement. “Russia has violated the agreement: They’ve been violating it for many years and I don’t know why President Obama didn’t negotiate or pull out,” said Trump, knowing his predecessor had a poor relationship with Putin. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blamed Trump’s decision on National Security Adviser John Bolton. Paul mentions nothing about Russia violating the agreement, calling Trump’s decision “a big, big mistake.”
Calling Trump’s decision a “big, big mistake to flippantly get out of this historic agreement,” Paul told Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. “We went from 64,000 nuclear-tipped missiles down to 15,000,” not admitting that for over 30 years the Russian Federation hasn’t followed the INF since the Soviet Union disbanded Dec. 26, 1991. Paul blamed National Security Adviser John Bolton for Trump’s decision. Bolton “shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near U.S. foreign policy,” said Paul, exposing his bias against Bolton’s hawkish, anti-Russian views. What really matters is how many intermediate-range nuclear-tipped missiles Putin has added to the Russian Federation’s arsenal since taking the helm May 7, 2000. Bolton would not have advised Trump of the Russian Federation’s INF violations if they did not occur. Reagan and Gorbachev hoped the INF treaty would end the Cold War.
Signed by Reagan and Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland, the treaty led to the destruction to 2,600 missiles by 1991. While the treaty initially covered the U.S. and Soviet Union, Germany, Hungary Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic also joined the INF together with Ukraine and Belarus. Former President Barack Obama was notified in 2014 that Moscow was in violation of the INF, but did nothing. NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s 9M729 intermediate-range ballistic missiles system violated the INF. “Russia must return to compliance with the INF Treaty or the U.S. will need to respond to its cavalier disregard for the treaty’s specific limits,” said Defense Secretary James Mattis. “The treaty was in name only, because only one side was abiding by it,” said Deputy Assist Secretary of State Col. Steve Ganyard, confirming Russia’s noncompliance with the INF.
Pacifists like Paul make excuses for Russia, despite knowing egregious violations of the INF treaty. Trump’s not rubber-stamping Bolton’s views, he’s responding to the longstanding violations of the INF by Russia from its inception. “Presidents have consistently interpreted this silence to mean that he may withdraw under his foreign affairs power without the need for Senate approval,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, professor of law and international dispute resolution at Notre Dame Law School. Citing problems in the South China Sea, Bolton said the U.S. needs to develop new intermediate-range missiles to counter China’s ongoing threats to U.S. allies in the region, especially Taiwan. “There may be a reason for the U.S. to develop a longer range Cruise missile to hold China at bay, concerned that China’s growing aggression in the South China Sea requires new U.S. deterrents.
