Quote:
Originally Posted by wdmso
This is not new news
the Obama administration accused the Russians of violating the pact by developing and testing a prohibited cruise missile. This isn't new what's new is Trump looking to start another arms race .. Once 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."
Trump clearly doesn't care or understand .. Yes Test are bad but deployments change the playing field... so my concern is unchanged
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It is new in that NATO is formally accusing Russia of breaching the INF treaty. It previously suspected it but did not conclusively support that idea. Now "Allies have
concluded that Russia has developed and fielded a missile system, the 9M729, which violates the INF Treaty and
poses significant risks to Euro-Atlantic security," NATO foreign ministers said in a statement after a meeting.
"
We strongly support the finding of the United States that Russia is in material breach of its obligations under the INF Treaty," the statement said.
Russia can no longer "even pretend it is [or was] observing the limits." It can't pretend that it is deploying its system because the US is withdrawing from the treaty. It is now evident that Russia was the one who had breached the treaty and the US is reacting to Russia. What Russia had already done, before the US did anything, had posed a significant threat to Euro-Atlantic security. If the US had stayed in the treaty, that significant threat was already existing due to Russia's cheating. The U.S. reaction is a buffer to Russia's threat. It no longer can pretend and it can't blame the U.S. What The U.S. has done has not escalated the threat, it leverages the ability of NATO to negotiate a Russian scrap of its missile system or no longer be the only big dog with such a system.