By Pulling Out of a Key Missile Treaty, Trump Is Doing What Putin Wants

Two weeks ago, this should have been on the front page of newspapers and on the nightly news for days.  Instead, chances are you didn't hear a thing about this.

National Security Adviser John Bolton is heading to Moscow this week [October 23] to announce that Trump will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, Treaty, the landmark 1987 arms control accord, signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, that marked a key step toward the end of the Cold War.

Why would the U.S. pull out of a treaty that was part of the end of the Cold War over 30 years ago?

The Russians have been cheating on the treaty for at least the past four years, the main impetus for Trump’s withdrawal.

Pulling out of the treaty is a silly move, rewarding the Russians for their violations rather than punishing them—and handing them a propaganda victory, as Vladimir Putin will no doubt blame the U.S. for killing the treaty—while doing nothing for the security of the U.S. or its allies.

You read correctly that Russia and Putin have not abided by the treaty.  Instead of punishing them, Republicans and Trump decided to cancel the treaty.  Why oh why would Trump and his compromised colleagues do such a thing?

Background:

In December 1987, Gorbachev and Reagan signed the INF Treaty, banning all cruise and ballistic missiles—whether they had conventional or nuclear warheads—with a range between 500 and 5,000 kilometers.

The Senate ratified the treaty, 93–5. Its terms were enforced. Other treaties followed. Warm relations ensued in all spheres. The Berlin Wall came down two years later. The Soviet Union imploded two years after that.

But now:

Relations are tense. Putin waxes nostalgic for days of empire and, to the extent he can, is trying to revive them. He has been “modernizing” his nuclear arsenal... to an extent that some deem threatening and others find puzzling.

Bolton has been raising alarms about Russia’s violations of the INF Treaty and calling on the United States to cancel the deal. He has long been hostile not only to this treaty but to all arms control treaties that the U.S. has signed—to the very idea of international treaties and, for that matter, international law.

...withdrawing would give the Russians exactly what they want.... a joint pullout would help only the Russians—and do nothing for the U.S. or the West.

We should actually be punishing Russia directly for their violation of the treaty, not withdrawing from it because they aren't abiding!

What action should an administration take against Russia for violating the INF Treaty?  Economic sanctions, diplomatic ousters, travel bans, the freezing of assets, possibly the deployment of Tomahawk submarine-launched cruise missiles—something that makes them pay a price. 

Trump is preparing to give them a bonus—with no benefits to us. Then again, what else is new?

Source: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/10/inf-treaty-trump-withdrawal-putin-john-bolton.html