With The End Of The INF Treaty, The U.S. Can Now Counter Russia's And China's Intermediate Missile Buildup

Sergei Bobylev / TASS

Timothy A. Walton, New York Times: America Could Lose a Real War Against Russia

With Putin and Trump having torn up a Cold War pact that lowered the risk of nuclear war, America should build more conventional missiles to catch up with Russia and China.

After more than 30 years, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (I.N.F.) Treaty ended last week, with an American withdrawal on Friday and a Russian withdrawal on Saturday. Although the United States abided by the terms of the treaty, Russia violated it by fielding more than 100 banned intermediate-range missiles, and China, which was never bound by it, fielded thousands. The United States has none.

To fix this gap, it is time for the Department of Defense to develop and field conventionally armed, ground-launched, intermediate-range missiles. The I.N.F. was a good treaty that reduced tensions and contributed to the peaceful end of the Cold War. After signing it in 1987, the Soviet Union and the United States eliminated ground-launched missiles with ranges of approximately 310 to 3,417 miles. Those missiles were problematic because, if they were armed with nuclear warheads, they could, given their short flight time, be used for devastating surprise attacks against allies in Europe and against the Soviet Union. The elimination of those missiles provided a greater sense of stability between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies.

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WNU Editor: We are definitely at the cusp of a new arms race.