10/31/2018

FOREIGN AFFAIRS/NATO/NUCLEAR/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a major nuclear arms control agreement with Russia is emblematic of his approach to foreign affairs. He announced the move without consulting NATO allies, many of whom helped secure the treaty three decades ago and will be threatened by its demise. And like much of his ‘America First’ foreign policy, the withdrawal offered a short-term fix to a long-term problem that ultimately will leave everyone, not least the United States, worse off. Trump cited two reasons for his decision Saturday [10-27-18] to pull the United States out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the historic agreement Ronald Reagan struck with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Russia had violated the treaty by testing and later deploying a ground-launched cruise missile that falls within the 500-5,500km range banned by the treaty. And China, which has deployed a large arsenal of midrange missiles, is not a party to the agreement…Trump decided to withdraw from the INF agreement without consulting NATO or other allied countries, even though the decision affects their core security interests. Instead, U.S. officials briefed allies on the decision only after they first visited Moscow to explain Washington’s new course.”

Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay, “Trump’s Screwing Up His Own Foreign Policy,” Politico, November 1, 2018