An excerpt below, read entirely at the link provided
Trump tore up two sacred covenants during his first presidency in 2018 out of sheer petulance or plain arrogance — the US-Iran nuclear deal [known as the JCPOA] and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty [INF Treaty]. Both were catastrophic decisions stemming out of his campaign promises in 2015 and in both cases, he gave them the colouring of reactive decisions by putting the blame respectively on Iran and Russia on patently spurious grounds.
I’d covered Trump shredding this agreement in 2018 at my former site- moving the post here in 2024
Trump tried to establish that Iran violated the JCPOA but actually, Iranians had scrupulously adhered to the treaty terms all the way till the US withdrawal, despite the coy refusal on the part of Europe and the US’ to reciprocate, as was expected of them.
Today, Trump is desperately keen to renegotiate the JCOPA but insists nonetheless that Iran cannot have rights to enrich uranium as allowed under Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Trump ordered air/missile strikes to “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear sites while pretending to be talking peace and connived with the Israeli conspiracy to decapitate dozens of Iranian officials and top military commanders. Unsurprisingly, Iran no longer trusts Trump and refuses to hold talks with the US.
The ensuing impasse is fraught with dangerous consequences. Most experts anticipate an eruption of military conflict sooner rather than later. In a nutshell, Trump achieved nothing by destroying the JCPOA and in the process has engendered a dangerous regional security climate with dire consequences all around in the world economy and international security.
When we look at Trump’s dismantling of the INF Treaty, an even more dismal picture emerges. The 1987 INF Treaty marked the first time the superpowers agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, eliminate an entire category of nuclear weapons, and employ extensive on-site inspections for verification. China criticised Trump’s unilateral move to bury the INF Treaty as an attempt to “seek military and strategic edge.”
Europeans were unhappy that they were not consulted by Trump although, as the then German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas put it, “a piece of Europe’s security has been lost.”
Trump’s decision was predicated on the false notion that post-Soviet Russia was in no position to challenge the US and, therefore, the time had come to realise the decades-old elusive American dream of “nuclear superiority” that would establish US global hegemony in an American Century. Of course, when he abandoned the INF Treaty in 2018, Trump was only following the footfalls of his predecessors per the strategic calculus set by the US Deep State.
Trump’s feet continue to be held the fire of his own making regarding Epstein. He’s looking for distractions. What frightens me is he’s made many dangerous decisions, that could negatively affect us all. How irrational can he get?
2 replies on “Trump is taunting India but is an emperor without clothes”
Hi Penny:
It’s beginning to look like Trump’s irrationally is unbounded.
Sigh… and that’s what worries me 🙁