NATO pushes US not to quit INF treaty after Trump’s threat to end it
Meanwhile, NATO conducted the largest military exercise since the Cold War…after which the US Marines drank all the beer in Iceland.
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.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“Mr Putin said any European countries hosting US missiles would be at risk of Russian strikes.”
Mr Putin’s aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov almost sank while in floating dock undergoing repairs. https://gcaptain.com/worlds-biggest-dry-dock-sinks-holding-russias-only-aircraft-carrier
the citizens of Iceland should be grateful it was only Jarheads & Squids.
had that been 7000 Cav Troopers, the entire island would have been dry, and all the sheep traumatized too! 😎
Velox et Mortifer!
had to log in to up vote you
First the beer, then the tequila, then the bourbon….all gone
Of course the lazy European cheapskates and their liberal US allies feel Russia is correct. One day they are colluding with Trump, the next not so much. Trump is too cankerous.
The Democratic Party voter is too stupid to realize the perfidy of his party, the media and politicians.
Did you read the article before commenting? No, they do not feel Russia is correct. On the contrary, “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.” So they’re actually backing Trump, calling on Russia to stop violating the treaty so Trump doesn’t have to trash it.
It’s over for Europe. China and the Pacific theater deserves our full attention. If Europe won’t even try to defend their civilization from Islamic “refugees”, let Russia have them.
Else, stop wasting our time. You want to charge us rent for protecting your effete asses? Here’s copy of The Last of the Legions:
https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=The_Last_of_the_Legions
“You are as men that are lost,” said the viceroy sadly. “I see this broad land, with its gardens and orchards, its fair villas and its walled towns, its bridges and its roads, all the work of Rome. Surely it will pass even as a dream, and these three hundred years of settled order will leave no trace behind. For learn that it will indeed be as you wish, and that this very day the orders have come to me that the legions are to go.”
The most likely reason for the US withdrawal from the INF treaty is China [and Asia], not Russia. INF eliminated ALL of the land based, short and intermediate range ballistic missiles that the US had. In other words, it eliminated a huge part of the potential tactical missile battery that the US can field. At this point in history, it appears that China is a far greater threat than Russia and China is not a signatory to the INF.
To be fair: we drank all the beer in Iceland BEFORE the wargames even started.
The NATO leaders are challenged to prove their relevance. Having become an expensive and confused mess with the advent of the EU, is NATO even necessary today? Were the national sovereignty of member states repealed as scheduled, who exactly then is NATO?
And by becoming more dependent on the very enemy it was created to defend against, what is the point? And most importantly to the US, why do WE have to pay for it? Isn’t Europe being taken over by Islam? What Europeans voted for THAT? It just gets nuttier and nuttier.
So Trump again disrupts the status quo to open the way to negotiation. The looming chaos is proof of the decay that has turned Europe into unmanageable chaos. The NWO wet dream of one-world government continues to collapse under its own weight.
What’s wrong with these damned people? The Russians have never complied with the terms of this treaty (or any other that I’m aware of). Do they just want to put the US at a disadvantage, or do they actually believe that there’s some value in an agreement that one party ignores? The US should have scrapped this treaty long ago — when it became apparent that the Russians were building weapons that were prohibited. The EU will be more of an enemy than Russia if it doesn’t come apart before it becomes the government of a single European state.
Worst. Russian. Puppet. Ever.