November 8, 2023
I know lately we’ve been focused on what’s been happening in the middle east between Israel and Hamas but something major just happened with Russia that could mean more of our US troops being deployed.
Yet another treaty meant to keep peace after the end of the cold war – is in essence — over.
The United States and our NATO allies served notice yesterday that they will formally “suspend” participation in the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe. Now – you might be thinking – what the hell is that? And why should I care? Well– the whole point of that treaty was to limit the number of US, Russian and NATO troops, tanks, artillery and aircraft in central Europe. This treaty had been seen for decades as one of the cornerstones for European security after the break up of the Soviet Union and for years had prevented either side from building up their forces in the region quickly for potential surprise attacks.
Now – before you freak out – this wasn’t a surprise. Russia “suspended” its participation in this treaty back in 2007, and announced its intention to withdraw in 2015 then formally pulled out of it completely this week – and that’s what prompted the US and NATO to announce they too would suspend participation. So why did Russia withdraw? The Kremlin said it was because NATO had expanded its footprint too close to Russia when it accepted Finland and Sweden into the alliance and said that undermined post-cold war security.
The US and NATO obviously criticized Russia for pulling out of the treaty saying it “further demonstrates Moscow’s continued disregard for arms control.” The US and NATO said they had to respond – mostly because Russia has the largest military in Europe and if they’re not participating anymore –it’s unfair and unsustainable for the US and NATO to participate.
Now that the treaty is basically frozen – this will give the US more flexibility in terms of deploying forces on NATO’s northern and southern flanks, including in Romania and Bulgaria near Ukraine. It also enables the US and NATO to avoid sharing information on the deployment of their forces with nations close to Russia.
So what does this all mean?
Well, frankly – it just shows the continued deterioration of relations with Russia whether they be with the United States or other European countries. By the way – this isn’t the only treaty Russia has pulled out of. Last week Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a bill revoking Russia’s participation in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty – because he said Russia needed to be equal with the United States. In February of this year Russia suspended participation in the new start treaty – which meant Russia immediately stopped allowing inspections of Russian weapons sites and stopped sharing nuclear weapons data. And in 2019 both Russia and the US pulled out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty which banned the production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a short to medium ranges about 300 miles to about 3400 miles.
Read more about the US/NATO “suspension” in the treaty here.
