Posted on 10/29/2019 4:48:44 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a document signaling his administration's intent to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies, the latest in a series of major arms control and disarmament accords that are on the verge of collapse.
Signed by 34 nations, including Russia, the treaty aims to increase international stability by allowing signatory nations to conduct surveillance flights over one another’s territories, to observe military installations and other areas.
Some U.S. lawmakers and military officials have voiced allegations that Russia was conducting overflights of U.S. territory using advanced camera technology that were more intrusive than past flights.
Russia’s first such flight with the new technology took place in April 2019.
In September 2018, after Russia complained about U.S. delays in allowing the Russian flight, Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a vocal opponent of the treaty, raised the issue of Russian restrictions.
“The Open Skies Treaty is out of date and favors Russia, and the best way forward is to leave it," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
Good.
Put the US first.
Tom Cotton.
Something missing to this story.
The treaty allows the observed country to provide the airplane.
Image quality may not exceed agreed thresholds.
That makes the complaints voiced in the article irrelevant.
Leave the open skies treaty?? Why would he do that. It’s a mutual treaty..favoring no one.
I have been somewhat familiar with the general details of this convention. It is not perfect, but I would hate to thrash the whole thing. We get some definite benefits.
This is one for which we should pay heed to the military. This article is unclear about what they really think.
Maybe we dont need it anymore. Maybe the space plane that we have been using makes open skies obsolete for us.
/s
Entities that pay a fee can get the enhanced and latest real time pics.
Does this even really matter anymore considering how advanced satellite pictures are now? I mean you can’t hide a military base anymore.
If you want to keep something secret, you need to go underground now.
Good...
It’s not about finding a military base but more about reading license plates in the military bases parking lot or watching deliveries.
The Russians are not abiding by the terms of the treaty, and have continued in this behavior for quite some time now.
There is no reason for America to continue being played as a chump.
Think this is more about the Communist Chinese.
Open Skies is a useless treaty. Both sides use it for trolling above all. It is meaningless in militarily sense since space reconnaissance. It is plain fun for the Russians to fly over the White House in a military jet or for USAF to pull the same thing in Russia. No other purpose anyway.
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