{"id":44715,"date":"2019-02-07T17:29:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T17:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/07\/nuclear-pacts-fail-so-whats-the-point\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:39:14","slug":"nuclear-pacts-fail-so-whats-the-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/opinion\/2019\/02\/07\/nuclear-pacts-fail-so-whats-the-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear pacts fail. So what\u2019s the point?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the last year, the Trump administration has decided to walk away from two nuclear deals. Nonproliferation advocates are up in arms, prior architects of the deals are arguing their merit and adversaries are taking advantage of their newfound freedom by reevaluating their nuclear arsenals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But nobody should be surprised these ultimately failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First consider the more recent decision to leave the U.S.-Russia Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty \u2014 or INF \u2014 which banned all land-based cruise missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. After years of Moscow violating the terms, President Donald Trump pulled the trigger<\/a> on long-stated threats by the U.S. to walk away. Remember that the INF was a Cold War success story. It epitomized a newfound warming of relations between Russia and the U.S., and it was signed by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.<\/p>\n\n\n\t