A Tu-214 ON (Open Skies) reconnaissance aircraft © Maxim Blinov / Sputnik
Moscow Times: Trump Signs Defense Bill Suspending Funding for Open Skies Treaty
The United States has suspended funding for the Open Skies Treaty following the signing of a $717-billion national defense policy act into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.
The measure could have implications for Russia’s ability to conduct observation flights over the United States.
Under the 34-member treaty that entered into force in 2002, countries are allowed to conduct unarmed observation flights to promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities. Russian aircraft had reportedly last conducted reconnaissance flights over the U.S. in August 2017 — over the Capitol, the Pentagon, the White House and Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump was taking a working vacation.
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WNU Editor: This is a big story that is being covered extensively in Russia. But in the West .... with the exception of Reuters .... little if any coverage.
More News On The U.S. Suspending Funding For The Open Skies Treaty
Washington Freezes Open Sky Treaty With Moscow in New Defense Bill -- Sputnik
Moscow Regrets US Suspension of Cooperation Within Open Skies Treaty -- Sputnik
US ‘shoots itself in the foot’ suspending Open Skies Treaty with Russia – retired general -- RT
Moscow regrets that U.S. is suspending Open Skies treaty: RIA -- Reuters
8 comments:
This is done via satellites these days. Cloud cover is a thing of the past and with the abundance of satellites, so is the issue of repositioning/changing orbits (also due to improvements in cameras/lasers/other sensors)
Wnu,why is that a big deal under these considerations? More a symbolic thing, isn't it?
Diplomacy and symbolism sometimes walk hand-in-hand. Downgrading one usually means downgrading the other and in the end there is a lost of trust.
Symbolism is a big deal. So much for the idea of the Trump Administration being a Putin lackey. I never really did like the idea of the open skies treaty because I thought it made it to easy for Russia to spy on us. I can see the point with the satellites being able to get around this. Ultimately if America is going to be a great country, this is going to mean competing with Russia and China in some spheres.
Is this a good move? I don't know. On balance, for now, I would say so. It doesn't make sense to make it any easier than it already is for an adversary or potential adversary to spy on us.
That's a fair point. A counter point would be: trust is earned.
The west cannot just keep being nice to Russia. Russians must decide. Do you all really think we are evil, or is perhaps Putin an actual killer and thug who sides with Assad, helps North Korea (which threatened us with nuclear holocaust ffs and even lowest estimates are hundreds of thousands dead)?
Trust is earned and Russia - under Putin and his gang - lost all trust.
By the way. .how come Putin had billions of dollars by most estimates? He's perhaps in the top10 or richest people on earth. .on a salary that's lower than mine. See anything wrong there? Why do Russians accept this thief?
Anon,
Some estimates have Putin as the richest person on earth. As to the loss of trust, Putin has definitely done some things to erode this trust as has the United States. POTUS was absolutely correct when he pointed out in the aftermath of the summit that the US had contributed to this problem. As to which party bears the most blame, this is a matter that reasonable people can debate on.
Now as for this treaty, I never did like it from the time I first heard about it. US government officials tend to be naïve whereas Russian officials not so much. As such, I think this gives a potential adversary an unearned edge. As one of my coaches would have called it, signing it was an "unforced error" on our part.
Now if I am reading the article right it may be that only US funding for the treaty but not Russian over flights may be the only things that have changed. If this is so, this may be bad for us all the way around. Russia could continue their over flights with impunity while we are not able to do what we are allowed to do because of lack of funding. Bottom line: based upon the current information available to me these over flights by Russia of the US should not be allowed to continue.
"Why do Russians accept this thief?" Only they can answer this.
We could also ask why Americans have historically accepted the thieves and idiots who run our country. Knowing the policies being espoused by HRC only represented a continuation of the status quo which many recognized as dangerous and even suicidal many took a chance on the unknown of Trump. The feelings of many Americans in this election cycle were well, primal. I'm not sure what Russians are thinking in how they vote or don't vote.
The Obama admin repeatedly accused the Russians of violating the INF treaty and said they had doubts about their adherence to the START II treaty. If you're Russian and you lose Obama, you had to really cheat and lie beyond normal for Putin. Obama was the guy who colluded with Demtri Medvedev in 2012 to connive with the Russians to go easy on him before the elections so he could accommodate Putin afterwards....its' all on tape and has been broadcast endlessly.
So what we have now is catch up. With the Obama sleazy characters out of power, the rational among the national security set can start bringing some sense to Obama's accommodations.
Anon,
I agree. What we have here is a "catch up." Policies are methodically being set right, however, I do not necessarily ascribe to them being sleazy. Their policies were/are misguided.
Booster. There's only a few millionaires in congress (I think 20 or 30 - many of them through prior and legitimate businesses). In the US to not be a millionaire at such power level is difficult. Putin is a billionaire by stealing money from your comrades. Are you OK with that or not allowed to criticise him? I honestly want to know. He's corrupt. He murders your people. And he steals billions from you. Why do you defend him or attack the US instead? Honestly if your job as troll demands it, it's pretty pathetic and you're nothing but a slave.
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