Suddenly, Cold War nuclear threats the treaty had long defused are coming back.
In his State of the Union speech, President Trump flaunted US withdrawal from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a precious legacy for peace and security from Ronald Reagan. Last week in his “state of the nation” speech Russian president Vladimir Putin shot back by threatening to target the US with new nuclear weapons, and accusing US leaders of being dangerously out of touch with reality.
2. US missile defense systems in Europe, which Russia claims can be offensive systems that violate the INF Treaty, can now be targeted with fast-striking mid-range missiles. 8. The manner of US withdrawal from INF dramatically lowers the standard for withdrawing from other treaties. Arguably the US has now lowered the bar for treaty withdrawal from “supreme interest” to unilaterally asserting some technical violation of a non-core treaty provision.