It’s safe to say that Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin aren’t best friends right now. That’s a badge of honor in liberal circles whose Russophobia has reached absurd limits. It’s amusing how in 2012, confronting Russia was seen as archaic and a relic of the old Cold War. After 2016, the Left wants to do everything short of nuclear war when confronting Moscow and its interests. With Joe Biden and the rest of the political class—yes, the Ukraine war is a bipartisan endeavor—Russia is suspending its participation in New Start. Both Putin and Biden are slated to deliver speeches today; the former made this declaration at his state of the nation address (via WaPo):
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a state of the nation address Tuesday that Moscow is “suspending” its participation in the New START nuclear nonproliferation agreement, the last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia.
Putin said Russia will not “withdraw” completely from the treaty, which has been extended to run through Feb. 4, 2026, but he said that Russia would not allow NATO countries to inspect its nuclear arsenal. He accused the alliance of helping Ukraine conduct drone strikes on Russian air bases that host strategic bombers that are part of the country’s nuclear forces.
The 2011 treaty placed “verifiable limits” on the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads deployed by the countries.
“Our relations have degraded, and that’s completely and utterly the U.S.’s fault,” Putin said.
Are we inching toward nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine on the first anniversary of the invasion? I don’t think so, but these aren’t positive steps. U.S. policy has always been geared toward making moves that avoid such a destructive confrontation. New Start was an Obama initiative, something the former president was passionate about regarding ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Now, Joe Biden is gumming up the works. It’s not about the treaty but about how Joe is a disaster abroad. He’s fraying the fabric of something his former boss accomplished, which circles back to another Obama quote: never underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.
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Who knew Biden would get Russia to suspend participation in Obama’s nuclear arms treaty?
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