The U.S.
will withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty
By
Philip Giraldi
May 29,
2020 "Information
Clearing House"
-
Let us
consider why the Donald Trump White House is
currently considering
detonating a nuclear weapon.
It would be the first “test” of a nuke since 1992
and is clearly intended to send a message that those
weapons sitting around in storage will be available
for use. The testing is in response to alleged
development of low-yield tactical nuclear devices by
Beijing and Moscow, a claim that is unsupported by
any evidence and which is likely a contrivance
designed to suggest that there is strong leadership
coming out of Washington at a time when the
Administration has been faulted for its multiple
failures in combatting the coronavirus.
The Pentagon
and national security agencies directed by the White
House have also been discussing the viability of
engaging in war with those same two global
competitors Russia and China, either individually or
even simultaneously. Yes, it is true that many
countries wargame certain scenarios that are
unlikely ever to occur, but there is nevertheless a
certain consistency in the bellicosity that comes
like an endless stream out of the Trump White House.
Relations with both Moscow and Beijing are the worst
they have been since the end of the Cold War. A
recent interview with U.S. Special Representative
for Syria James Jeffrey
revealed that
American troops are staying in Syria not to confront
ISIS but rather in hopes that Russia will be drawn
into a “quagmire.” Meanwhile the U.S. government’s
repeated attempts to demonize China for the
coronavirus suggest that tension with that country
will increase considerably as U.S. elections draw
nearer. Both China and Russia have already been
accused of planning to interfere in November’s
presidential polling.
The
Administration policy of intimidation and threats
directed against foreign nations over their domestic
and international policies has borne bitter fruit,
but no one seems capable of halting the slide led by
Secretary of State Pompeo and the president into an
autocracy that depends on expressions and
demonstrations of military power for its survival.
Washington recently rejected global calls to suspend
all sanctions and aggressive actions while the world
struggles with coronavirus. It was the only country
to do so, leading to derision from friend and foe
alike and emphasizing the isolation of the Trump
leadership on the world stage.
|
Are You Tired Of
The Lies And
Non-Stop Propaganda?
|
Recently
the United States was threatening to intercept four
Iranian flagged oil tankers that were making their
way to Venezuela. The U.S., which has waged economic
warfare against both countries by sanctioning oil
exports and seriously degrading the standards of
living of ordinary citizens, is now seeking to use
military resources to enforce its completely illegal
rules globally. If Trump wants to light a fire,
attacking Iranian ships in international waters to
enforce U.S. unilaterally imposed sanctions is a
sure way to go about it. Starving Iranians and
Venezuelans is in no one’s interest, not even the
poohbahs who are in charge in Washington, but they
seem to be oblivious to the fact that taking
“action” has consequences.
The irony
is, of course, that Donald Trump was elected
president on a “peace candidate” margin of
difference after he pledged that he would be ending
“stupid” wars in Asia. Unfortunately, his assurances
were little more than copies of the similar pledges
made by his two predecessors, both of whom embraced
business as usual for America the Exceptional early
in their terms of office. Electing three faux peace
candidates in a row also revealed that while you
cannot fool all the people all the time you can fool
most of them frequently enough to wind up in
Washington.
And
there is other cleverness afoot in an effort to make
COVID-19 go away. Pompeo has just announced that the
United States will unilaterally withdraw from the
so-called
Open Skies Treaty
which was signed in 1992. Thirty-two signatories
were, by its terms, allowed to conduct unarmed
confidence building surveillance flights over each
others’ territories to ensure that no one was
planning a military offensive.
It is the
third international security arrangement that Trump
has discarded since he took office and the pretext,
as in the previous cases, is that the other side is
“cheating,” that Russia in particular has blocked
overflights of strategic regions and military
exercises while also using its flights to collect
sensitive information on the United States to plan
potential attacks.
America’s NATO allies, also signatories on the
treaty, were not informed in advance regarding the
White House’s intentions and are reported to be
angry because they have found the Treaty a useful
tool in maintaining mutually beneficial relations
with Russia. Some Democrats and former intelligence
official in the U.S. have declared the decision
“insane”, both
because it ignores the interests of America’s
closest allies and because it further damages the
prospect for establishing a reasonable modus vivendi
with Moscow.
Previously
Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) shortly after
taking office in 2018 under pressure from his
principal donor Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon
Adelson, who is a persistent advocate for Israel.
His wife Miriam has declared that there should be a
new entry to the Hebrew Bible entitled the “Book of
Trump.” Iran was in compliance with the agreement
and it was beneficial for the United States as it
would have denied Tehran the infrastructure needed
to produce a nuclear weapon, but Adelson was in
favor of attacking Iran, going so far as to
recommend that nuclear weapons be used against it.
Trump also
subsequently left the Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces Treaty in 2019, using the same
unsubstantiated argument being put forward by
Administration hawks currently that Russia was not
fully compliant with its terms.
This latest
withdrawal suggests that there will be another
departure if Trump is reelected. The
New START Treaty, the only remaining
nuclear-arms-control agreement between the United
States and Russia, is set to expire in February
2021. New START was negotiated by the Obama
administration, which would render it a prime target
for rejection by Trump. It sets a cap on the number
of nuclear missile warheads deployed by the United
States and Russia, which is certainly to everyone’s
benefit, but apparently the White House does not
agree.
The trend
is clear. Trump and his advisers, most notably
Pompeo, are opposed to any international bodies on
principle, most particularly if they are not
completely supportive of U.S. policies and positions
or are able to limit the White House’s freedom of
action, up to an including the use of nuclear
weapons. Recently Trump has cut off all funding to
the World Health Organization (WHO) in spite of the
globally significant coronavirus crisis. Last year,
Trump cut off funding to the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee program to punish
the Palestinians and express his support for the
Israelis. Now, the president is clearly opposed to
any attempts at arms control and is seeking to
dismantle the existing international framework.
“Trump
hasn’t started any new wars” say the more cogent of
his supporters. That may be true, but he has
attacked Syria twice based on phony intelligence and
has committed a war crime by assassinating a senior
Iranian government official. And he sure has worked
hard to elevate constant insults and threats into a
major component of U.S. foreign policy while also
taking away the international instruments set up to
minimize the risks of war. And it will only get
worse over the next five months as the White House
works desperately to shift the focus away from the
fallout from the mishandled coronavirus and towards
foreign enemies who will be blamed for everything
going wrong in America.
Philip
Giraldi, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Council
for the National Interest. -
"Source"
Do
you agree or disagree? Post your comment here
