U.S. - Russian Ties Are At The Worst In Decades

Obama and Putin, not on the same page. (Photo: Reuters)

Kambiz Foroohar & Toluse Olorunnipa, Bloomberg: U.S.-Russia Ties Crumble Under Weight of Syria, Nuclear Pact

* ‘Everybody’s patience with Russia has run out,’ Earnest says
* Putin decree on arms treaty cites U.S. threats to ‘stability’

Ties between Russia and the U.S. deteriorated further on Monday after the Obama administration proclaimed bilateral peace talks over Syria dead and Moscow suspended a 16-year-old treaty meant to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation.

“Everybody’s patience with Russia has run out,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in Washington, blaming Vladimir Putin’s government for undermining the fight against Islamic State and for indiscriminate bombing that has killed civilians and targeted hospitals in Syria. “Russians have been complicit” in the Syrian tragedy, Earnest said, and “there is nothing more for the United States and Russia to talk about.”

The U.S. announced Monday it was withdrawing personnel who had been dispatched to the Middle East in anticipation that a Syrian cease-fire deal reached Sept. 9 would go into effect, a move that would have paved the way toward greater coordination between the U.S. and Russian militaries. That followed Putin’s decision earlier in the day to withdraw from a 2000 accord which committed both countries to eliminating stockpiles of plutonium used as the core material in some types of nuclear weapons.

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WNU Editor: This is a mess that the next President will have to sort out .... maybe.