While the war in Ukraine may not be discussed as heavily in the news now (and inquiring minds wish to know why), the consequences of it are certainly playing out in less trafficked media channels.
One of the more significant consequences includes Russia’s abandonment of the New START Treaty, which was ostensibly designed to keep the world’s nuclear powers from escalating their respective tensions with one another.
Oops.
Now, with the war in Ukraine, Russia has unsurprisingly vowed to stop taking part in the New START Treaty, as evidenced by its refusal to provide annual data regarding its nuclear arsenal as it did before.
In the spirit of Iran, Russian officials aim to keep the United States in the dark with regards to what it is doing with its nuclear weapons, much to the displeasure of the White House.
And varied officials from the federal government have come out swinging.
“Because of Russia’s noncompliance with these obligations under the treaty, the United States will not provide its biannual data exchange to Russia either, in order to encourage Russia to return to compliance with the treaty,” State Department spokesman Vedant Pate declared.
Tit for tat, in other words, with both of the world’s most significant nuclear powers keeping one another in the dark.
What could possibly go wrong with such an approach?
Aside from putting the world more and more on edge, that is, with multiple nations caught between the longstanding struggle between Russia and the United States.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also joined the fray, though he made his best effort to “reason” with a nation clearly intent on wielding nonstop destruction until it achieves its aims.
“The United States notified Russia of the countermeasures in advance and conveyed the United States’ desire and readiness to reverse the countermeasures and fully implement the treaty if Russia returns to compliance,” Blinken declared.
In other words, Blinken is ready to reverse the terribly stressful path moving forward, assuming that anyone else has any interest.
Heck, half the time it’s hard to tell if Biden has any interest, as he is all too eager to dump hundreds of billions into Ukraine with no specific action plan that anyone can explain. Perhaps that’s the point.
“The United States remains ready to work constructively with Russia on resuming implementation of the New START treaty,” Blinken pleaded, clearly looking for an alternative to nonstop hostilities between varied world powers.
If only more in the federal government were as opposed to impending war as Blinken.
Author: Jane Jones