Posted on 12/20/2018 11:26:16 AM PST by ETL
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of raising the risk of nuclear war by threatening to spurn a key arms control treaty and refusing to hold talks about another pact that expires soon.
In a news conference that lasted more than three hours, Putin also backed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria, said British Prime Minister Theresa May had no choice but to implement Brexit and that Western democracy was under serious strain.
The annual event, the 14th of its kind, is used by Putin to burnish his leadership credentials and send messages to foreign allies and foes.
This year, he made clear his biggest worry was what he called a dangerous new arms race, something he accused the United States of stoking by turning its back on arms control.
Washington has threatened to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) which bans Moscow and Washington from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe.
Putin said the move, if it happened, would have unpredictable consequences. ..."
Putin has previously said that Russia would be forced to train its own missiles on any European countries that host U.S. rockets.
Another U.S.-Russia treaty, the New START pact, which limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads each side can have, expires in 2021. Putin said he was worried that Washington didn't appear to be interested in discussing its future.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
February 9, 2017
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.
When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.
Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. ...”
or,
https://web.archive.org/web/20170209182918/https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-call-putin-trump-denounced-obama-era-nuclear-171036908.html?ref=gs
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July 2017...
Jul 6, 2017
President Trump called Russia a “destabilizing” influence in Europe and the Middle East, and urged it to “join the community of responsible nations,” in his strongest remarks yet against the regime of Vladimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet Friday in Hamburg for the first time.
His remarks in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square, which marks the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, came after the U.S. agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Poland. The president also used the opportunity to reiterate the NATO commitment to mutual defense, a declaration he did not make during the NATO summit in May, prompting consternation among U.S. allies wary of Russia’s ambitions.
“To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated—not merely with its words but with its actions—that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual-defense commitment,” Trump said Thursday. “Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection, Europe, and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this, Europe must do more.”
Trump has repeatedly said NATO members must spend more on defense—a position in line with past U.S. administrations. But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies’ defense spending. ...”
https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/07/trump-russia/532761/
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November 11, 2017, NPR
'Asked Saturday whether he believes Putin's denials, President Trump initially suggested the question of election interference needed to be set aside to focus on other concerns.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/11/563481331/trump-putin-issue-joint-statement-on-defeating-syria
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LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks, but that the military alliance was still very important to him, The Times of London reported.
“I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told the newspaper in an interview. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”
Trump added that many NATO members were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection.
“A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.”
Putin: It’s Trump’s fault that I’m a bad boy!
Cheating is okay when Russia and their Democrat friends (Hillary and Obama) do it.
Exactly.
Putin is astute on some things and not so much on other things.
Of course it all serves his own political purposes.
So in a way, you could say he is astute concerning most things, working them for his own purposes.
When oil drops below $40 next week, they will string up this little tyrant like Mussolini. Russia is a failed state, hanging by a thread.
If the other party breaks the agreement, does that not nullify the agreement?
It is up to Putin to demonstrate that the Russian Federation had NOT broken the terms of the agreement. The US will honor the original agreement made with the Soviet Union, only insofar as the successor government holds to ALL the agreed specific clauses of the treaty.
Otherwise it is an all-new ball game, and a new agreement would have to be signed, bringing the terms up to the 21st Century.
Trump is still negotiating. What will Putin’s response be?
President Trump and Putin need to meet.
Russia is a failed state, hanging by a thread.
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Yeah, with a whole bunch of Nukes. Trump needs to meet with Putin.
[ Russia’s Putin accuses U.S. of raising risk of nuclear war ]
This proves Russian Collusion beyond a shadow of a doubt!! Somebody get Jim Acosther on the line!!
The only collusion that was/is? happening is between the Russians and the notoriously traitorous democrats.
Yes.
If the Russians REALLY wanted to damage the country, Hillary would have been their best choice. Hillary would bankrupt the U.S.A. much, much quicker.
Of course, Hillary would have been more destabilizing. Which she and Barack and the liberal media are doing. Hillary and Barack behind the scenes.
And with the help of those surrounding Steele.
Wow, what a mess.
“But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies’ defense spending. ...”
No kidding...reaaaaallly?/sarc.
Why should we shoulder the biggest burden for Europe when collectively they could at least put up equal share...screw them if they won’t!
As if this was something that required much change and was new, while it is Putin as the macho-man aggressor that resulted in Trump taking gloves off.
As was shown after the fall of the Soviet union, defense spending by the US toward Russia falls when its threat is reduced. Trump needs to press this point and show who the true aggressor has been, going why back to Stalin, and which monster Putin seems to want to honor.
Giving out our military posture to Russia is sure to encourage them to pull the trigger. If all the neighborhood knows what weapons we have, it is an open invitation for them planning an attack on us.
The Open Sky treaty by these globalist fools only fuel Putin’s blackmail threatening rhetoric while it helps him prepare for war.
No one hiding their weaponry should be construed as someone predatorial seeking to attack. A defense is a defense and requires no such thing.
Yes, Russia never fought the cold war but is still fighting the WWII legacy of Stalin. Amazing no one figures this one out. What if Germans wanted to resurect Hitler? What signal would this be?
It means the devil is at work, who - from the beginning of his fall from grace wanted to obtain power, by "climbing up some other way" to honor, that is, by presumptuous self-exaltation - is manifestly driven by selfish pride. Thus the movements which he seeks to reign thru, via proxy servants, love power.
And who, like the devil, obtain power by seducing souls with the victim-entitlement mentality (basically telling God that He needed to share the wealth), and themselves as the saviors of the oppressed. Who elect such saviors, some in delusion being infected with this mentality but believing it sincerely to be best, and others who would normally protest increasingly being penalized for hard work by being compelled to share what they earned with those who do not, but since they are of the latter class, they support with system.
Notice that mercy and grace is to be affirmed, but under the victim-entitlement ethos, there is none (and thus the stimulus volitional benevolent charitable giving so often provides), for instead, as with the seduction of Eve, the recipient is told that it is his right, which leads to demanding more without guilt.
But one of the signs of the infection is that of the masses being pressured to feel guilty over things they actually are hardly guilty for, or making minor issues to be the major ones, while not feeling guilty for things they should feel guilty for (like wearing fur versus having a convenience abortion).
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