What is it — https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/openskies Trump to Withdraw From ‘Open Skies’ Arms Control Treaty Mr. Trump’s decision, the third major retreat from arms control agreements, will be viewed as evidence that he also plans an exit from the last major arms treaty with Russia: New START. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/us/politics/trump-open-skies-treaty-arms-control.html President Trump has decided to withdraw from another major arms control accord, according to senior administration officials, and will inform Russia on Friday that the United States is pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, negotiated three decades ago to allow nations to fly over each other’s territory with elaborate sensor equipment to assure they are not preparing for military action.
I imagine Russia will pull out of the treaty next and therefore make the treaty basically useless. I understand that Russia not-complying with aspects of the treaty is a problem, but completely pulling out isn't going to make things better or the world safer. Seems like an extremely short-sighted move.
Nuclear war has never happened yet has been warned by Chicken-Little hippies and So-Called "Experts" all the time. I give this * * * * * on the FAKE NEWS Meter™️
trump is far beyond simply being an idiot. One by one, he is actively attempting to destroy attempts at arms control that took decades to establish. The Open Skies Treaty was supported by a long series of US presidents from both parties, who saw it's value. trump sees nothing. trump has been doing to the same thing with our foreign policy. He pulled us out of an organization we actively created to pull our friends and allies closer while benefiting our collective economies, the TTP. All that did was allow China a free hand with pulling them away with their Belt and Road initiative. trump, by suddenly pulling most of our troops from Syria, surprising our own military leadership and our European allies, betraying our Kurdish allies, who had done most of the fighting on the ground, was an act of brute stupidity. It is giving Russia a free hand to do what they like in the area, including bombing countless civilians in support of the Syrian dictator, Assad. It was a blow to our foreign policy in the region and elsewhere by making us look like an ally that cannot be trusted, and under trump, we can't be. That's just a couple of things. I could go on and talk about his destructive policy in the Korean peninsula, his withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, which accomplished nothing except to increase the danger of war with that country as it gives Iran a free hand in restarting it's processing of uranium for nuclear weapons, but I'll stop here.
https://www.armscontrol.org/pressro...nsible-national-security-misstep-warn-experts For Immediate Release: May 21, 2020 Media Contacts: Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy, (202) 463-8270 ext. 104; Daryl G. Kimball, executive director, (202) 463-8270 ext. 107 (Washington, D.C.)—The Trump administration reportedly will announce that it intends to pull the United States out of the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, a valuable arms control and security agreement intended to reduce risks to the United States and its European allies. “The Open Skies Treaty has helped preserve the post-Cold War peace. It allows the 34 participating nations, including the United States and Russia, to fly unarmed observation aircraft over one another’s territory. This helps preserve a measure of transparency and trust, thereby enhancing stability and reducing the risk of conflict,” says Thomas Countryman, the former U.S. acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, and now chair of the board of the Arms Control Association. “A unilateral U.S. exit from Open Skies would undermine our security and that of our European allies, all of whom strongly support the treaty,” Countryman added. “It has the effect—and perhaps this is the intention—of signaling a diminished U.S. commitment to its NATO allies.” “U.S. and allied treaty flights over Russia provide valuable information about Russian military activities, thereby enhancing stability and reducing the risk of conflict in Europe,” says Kingston Reif, Arms Control Association director for disarmament and threat reduction policy. "The treaty has been an especially important tool in responding to Russia's aggression against Ukraine." “There is strong bipartisan support in Congress for maintaining U.S. participation in Open Skies,” Reif notes. “The administration’s announcement of withdrawal is a slap in the face to Congress as it violates notification requirements written into law last year.” The administration told reporters the formal notification of withdrawal would be effective immediately and the withdrawal itself will take effect in six months. However, such action violates Sec. 1234 of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which requires the administration to notify Congress 120 days ahead of a U.S. notification of an intent to withdraw. The Trump administration cites Russian noncompliance as a motivating factor for its decision. Disputes have arisen because Russia has imposed a sublimit of 500 kilometers over the Kaliningrad Oblast for treaty flights, refused access to observation flights along its border with the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and denied planned U.S.-Canadian flights over a Russian military exercise in September 2019. However, Russia recently approved and allowed a joint U.S.-Estonian-Latvian treaty flight over Kaliningrad this year that was not subjected to the earlier Russian restrictions. In addition, Jim Gilmore, U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said March 2 that Russia will no longer raise an “objection” for the United States and its allies to “fly over one of their major exercises.” As President Reagan’s former Secretary of State, George Shultz, former Senator Sam Nunn, and former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry wrote in October 2019 in the Wall Street Journal: “As with any treaty, implementation disputes arise. Current disagreements are related to underlying territorial and political issues between Russia and some of its neighbors. But these problems can be solved through professional, pragmatic diplomacy, not by abandoning treaty commitments.” “Today’s announcement is part of a troubling pattern. The Open Skies Treaty is not the first, and may not be the last, nuclear or conflict risk reduction agreement this administration has withdrawn from without a viable strategy for replacement,” observes Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “Failure to take up Russia’s offer to extend by five years the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which the administration has threatened to do, would compound the damage and further heighten the risk of unconstrained military and nuclear competition between the United States and Russia at a time when the world can ill afford it,” he warns.
Anybody have the slightest confidence that Trump could explain the history of treaty, or why it was negotiated in the first place? Very stable geniuses only shoot from the hip when making decisions that affect millions or billions of lives. If you have to sit through briefings, it's a sign of weakness.
Does Congress have any say in this? After reading through the treaty, I have no clue why the US needs to withdraw from it (besides the dumb typical Trump explanation). Would love a little more insight because on the surface this doesn't make sense. It would seem that if this treaty appears as important as I am interpreting it then a united bipartisan (I know, wishful thinking) Congress would be smart enough to step in and block Trump from doing something stupid.
This clown of a man is just a sad piece of garbage to ever be a president i thought he was supposed to be making America great again looks to me he is setting up America to be attacked by any means.
I don't really know the history of this treaty that well. My understanding is that if this treaty has been ratified by the US Senate it can't be withdrawn just by the Executive but would require a vote of Congress. Either this treaty wasn't ratified or it has a pretty easy out provision that just leaves it up to the Executive to decide. Either way pulling out of it sounds like it primarily benefits Russia and I don't see what the US gains out of not being a part of it.
The United States is going to have inject Billions of Gallons of Disinfectant and shine a moon-sized UV-C light up its ass to get rid of the STENCH, the STANK, the CRUD, and SCUM of the Trump years to rid the World of the damage that man has done.
Pulling out benefits the US. The areas we actually wanted to fly over Russia was not allowing us the access. Meanwhile, they were using the treaty to fly over our bases and other areas that could be used for targes in an attack. Also, we don't need the flights because it is cheaper and easier to do it with out satellite network than burn up a bunch of jet fuel with long flights over Russia.
The "Satellite network" doesn't give real-time access to what's going on...just a snapshot in time when it's studied. Satellites can also be worked around because of this and the fact that their imagery can only zoom in so far. That's the reason we were sending planes in...to confirm the satellite imagery...as well as provide pilots training in case anything happened. It was also a sign of good faith between what used to be cold-war neighbors and the world's two biggest super-powers. Russia may have been blocking access, which is why you negotiate or block their flights. Punish the Russians, but at least maintain access to what you can see. Pulling out also means that no agreement exists between any country that was party to the treaty. If one of our European allies now decides to tell us to screw off...guess what, we can't fly over their country either. And, cool, we save money on jet fuel...that'll matter if Russia decides to maneuver their manpower towards the border and decide to expand or when other countries decide that we don't matter anymore and decide to block our flights as well. Point is, we could have saved money by grounding our jets and still staying part of the treaty...just negotiate, block access, and place sanctions on Russia if needed. Instead, Trump went all the way (the route John Bolton was egging him to do) and made our defenses weaker and made the world a more dangerous place.