THE REAL TRUMP BOMB?
President’s disastrous policies could spark a fresh arms race and risk nuclear conflict
DONALD Trump’s decision to pull out of a landmark agreement that made the world a safer place should worry everyone.The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INFT) signed in 1987 by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev placed a ban on an entire class of weapons.
To help end the Cold War arms race, the two superpowers had the sense to outlaw a new generation of intermediate and short-range weapons with a range of between 300 and 3,400 miles.
But it seems sense is the last thing Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have.
It is not the first time the US leader has torn up an international agreement.
So far he has pulled America out of deals on climate change, trade and Iran while also toying with a withdrawal from NATO. But his decision to ditch the INFT should sound alarm bells for even his most ardent supporters.
It provides the green light for Putin to start building those missiles which could threaten all NATO allies.
Putin responded to Trump’s decision by saying Russia will also abandon the centrepiece nuclear arms treaty, adding Moscow will only deploy intermediaterange nuclear missiles if Washington does so.
So welcome to the new dawn of nuclear instability, in which agreements that have kept the most dangerous weapons on the planet off the drawing board give way to the ever-increasing threat of new, quickly advancing technologies.
The likelihood of a nuclear blunder seems to be growing by the day as major nuclear powers invest in their arsenals.
Pakistan has the fastest-growing armoury on the planet. China continues to modernise its nuclear forces, while the States plan to spend more than £1trillion over the next 30 years on weapons that increase the targeting and kill capability of strategic nuclear weapons.
America and Russia, who maintain more than 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, have a shared stake in guarding the future of humanity, but such discussions are made harder as Trump struggles with accusations of undisclosed ties to Moscow.
Trump treats the Presidency much like he did his business – bullying others until he gets his way. But he’s finding, to the world’s cost, running a country is not like running a golf club.
It is imperative the US Congress does not allow the Trump administration to plunge the world into a new Cold War.
Such a policy undermines global security, separates America further from the UK and other allies and, more importantly, plays directly into Putin’s hands.
Trump has encircled himself with dangerous advisors who shun Reagan’s vision in favour of an endless nuclear arms race. It’s not too late to reverse this trend, but the clock is ticking.