Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared in front of cameras this morning where he announced that the United States is withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty that was first signed by Republican saint Ronald Reagan in 1987.
The White House also issued a statement that said the United States will start developing new weapons that would have been prohibited under the treaty.
“For too long,” Trump said in a written statement issued by the White House, Russia has violated the treaty “with impunity, covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad.” [...]
Trump said that on Saturday the U.S. will “suspend its obligations” under the treaty, meaning it will be freed from its constraints, including the testing and deployment of missiles banned by the pact. At the same time, the U.S. will begin withdrawing from the treaty, which will be effective in six months, he said.
It may be true that Russia has been violating the treaty, but it's also true that Trump could make us the bad guys by pulling out of the treaty first. And this is not happening in a vacuum.
Although Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats just told Congress that Iran is not currently developing nuclear weapons, what credibility do we have to tell them that they can't while we're withdrawing from the nuclear forces treaty?
Does the Trump regime believe the North Koreans will not point toward this decision and use it to justify their own nuclear weapons program?
Trump is opening the doorway to proliferation. The next nation or regime that seeks to develop nuclear weapons will so in a world with fewer constraints.