FP: Trump Pulls out of INF Treaty

[Dill]

(02-05-2019, 01:11 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Perhaps we're pulling out to support Elizabeth Warren's and a few other Dems request that we change our nuclear launch policy. We've always held the position of being ableto launch a first strike. EW wants to change it to; only after we've been nuked.

Haha, I doubt it.

Is the change to "only after we've been actually nuked"?  E.g, do we have to wait for nukes to hit us, or do we get to respond when we see their ICBMs rising,  as was the case before?   Till now, everyone agreed that energy spent in preventing us from getting to that point was critical. Announcing a pull out from the INF and a decision to militarize space and return to development of nuclear weapons signals we are no longer spending that energy.

Also, if you have been following the discussion over US and Russian capabilities over the last couple of years, one of the big fears is a return to production of "tactical" nukes, small enough to be used on battle fields.  Seems the Russians are ramping up production of those. 

If there is nuclear use in the near future, is is more likely to be of this sort, than a world-wide conflagration of ICBMs raining down on metropolitan areas.

Trump always likes to say "all options are on the table," and "why do we have nukes if we don't use them." A willingness to use nukes might also, in the minds of Trump and Bolton, increase the US ability to pressure countries to do as their told, relying less on diplomacy and aid to get cooperation. So I am guessing Warren's bill may be another attempt to prevent a president who cannot gauge the consequences of his actions very well from using nukes in A-stan or Syria, or wherever we next intervene.