The Washington Post reported on Thursday that President Biden is seeking a five-year extension of New START, the last nuclear arms control treaty between the US and Russia that is set to expire on February 5th.
The report cited two senior US officials, and Biden himself has previously said that he favors the extension. Russia’s stance on New START is that they are ready to make the five-year extension with no preconditions. Washington and Moscow appear to be able to be prepared to make an agreement, but they have to work quickly.
New START limits the number of missiles, bombers, and nuclear warheads each power can have deployed. If the treaty lapses, there will be no constraints on either country’s nuclear arsenal, and it could spark a new nuclear arms race.
The Trump administration failed to reach an agreement on New START after making additional demands of the Russians. President Trump withdrew from other treaties with Moscow, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that prohibited the production of medium-range nuclear and ballistic missiles and the Open Skies treaty that allowed unarmed surveillance flights over participating countries.
While the Biden administration is keen to preserve New START, they are looking to hold Russia “accountable” for so-called “aggressive actions” from Moscow. The officials told the Post that the new administration is not seeking a “reset” in relations with Russia like previous administrations have.
Some of the allegations against Russia are completely unsubstantiated, like the claim that Moscow paid bounties to the Taliban to kill US troops in Afghanistan, which one official mentioned to the Post.
Well that is good news. Trump getting out of treaties was a major reason to get rid of him.
amerikans never adhere to their agreements—why bother?
It’s difficult to know how Russia might negotiate this treaty–if at all.
Biden has at least until Friday night to appear serious to Russian negotiators by removing sanctions against Russian entities. I doubt it will happen.
The Ukraine episode of 2014 and Biden’s involvement isn’t lost on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
We’re already at two strikes and the Russian contingent is probably slightly amused. Messrs. Putin and Lavrov could mention how Russia is surrounded by NATO bases or offer their analysis that the US dollar is essentially kaput this year or in 2022.
The US has unreported missile programs of the US Space Force and possibly unknown to Russia’s Strategic Forces. Many items can be concealed when anywhere from $26 to $50 trillion goes “missing.” This programs are at least 5-7 years old.
Did I mention that the US is a net importer of oil and they’re isn’t enough flowing around the world to singularly gin up the US economy for a sustained period of 3 percent GDP much beyond mid-2022?
The Catholic Church doesn’t teach parishioners like Joe Biden how to morally sacrifice lives. How many ways can a life be aborted, Joe? But I digress.
The neocon author of that line at the NYT is mistaken. There is another nuclear Treaty between the US and Russia — the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The US is in multiple violations of multiple clauses of that Treaty. Any one of those undeniable violations is reason enough for Russia to withdraw on three months’ notice.
The violations include the US support of Israeli nuclear weapons and delivery systems. They also include the US refusal to permit peaceful uses and peaceful research in Iran.
There are no comparable Russian violations of that Treaty.
Withdrawal by Russia would presumably spark withdrawal by Iran, and then Russia would be free to supply Iran with a complete nuclear arsenal suitable to reach Israel. There also would remain no rights of inspection or question of whether that was done, since that too is part of the same Treaty.
So, the Last Treaty? How far can Russia be pushed?