President Donald Trump is perhaps the worst Russian stooge ever.
After Trump threatened to end nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, the European members of NATO are pushing US officials to continue the agreement.
In a closed-door meeting at NATO, Pentagon, U.S. State Department and National Security Council officials briefed alliance envoys on U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which rid Europe of land-based nuclear missiles.Diplomats present said Germany and other European allies called for a final effort on Washington’s part to convince the Kremlin to stop what the West says are violations, or possibly renegotiate it to include China.“Allies want to see a last-ditch effort to avoid a U.S. withdrawal,” one NATO diplomat said on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the meeting, which took place two days after senior U.S. official John Bolton informed Russian President Vladimir Putin of the plans in Moscow.
However, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg supports ending the treaty and backed allegations that Russia is violating the pact.
The United States insists that Russia’s 9M729 missile system contravenes the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), and NATO allies agree that is probably the case. The pact between Moscow and Washington bans an entire class of weapons – all land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range between 310-3,410 miles.According to British newspaper, the Financial Times, Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday, “The treaty is not working if it’s only being respected by one side. The problem, the threat, the challenge is the Russian behaviour, which has been ongoing for a long time.”
In response to the possibility of an end to the INF agreement, President Vladimir Putin warns that Russia will respond “in kind” if new America nuclear missiles are placed in Europe.
Mr Putin said any European countries hosting US missiles would be at risk of Russian strikes.Nato has said it is unlikely to deploy more nuclear weapons to Europe should an arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow collapse.The US says Russia has violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty and plans to withdraw.Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg agreed that Russia had probably violated the deal. He said Nato did not seek confrontation but stood ready to defend all allies against any threat.
Meanwhile, NATO is conducting the largest military exercise since the Cold War. It is so large that the US Marines participating were rumored to have consumed all the beer in Iceland.
U.S. Marines and sailors reportedly drank an entire Icelandic city dry during NATO’s Trident Juncture 2018.The exercise, said to be the largest military exercise in decades, drew in military forces from 31 countries and sprawled from the Baltic Sea to Iceland, where some 7,000 American sailors and Marines marched into bars across the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, Stars and Stripes reported.Local blogger Eiríkur Jónsson said that owners of the bars were trying hard to serve up the American soldiers whatever they wanted but “they were fighting an overwhelming force.”The demand for cold brews was a four-day event that dried up the beer supply in the city of Reykjavik.
I suspect Trump’s threat heralds another negotiation with Putin. Given the amount of beer consumed by our military, Putin should make note that our military worked hard during the joint exercises and should plan accordingly.
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