While we are consumed with the midterm voting, President Trump has declared he will withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987.
His action I do not judge, as I lack the facts. It does bring back the heady days of nuclear arms control, a topic I covered as the editor (1982-1992) of the monthly Arms Control Reporter.
In the 1980s, nongovernmental people such as Frank von Hippel of Princeton and Randy Forsberg of the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies played a significant role as occasional intermediaries between the U.S. administration and the Soviet government. Such scientists and analysts, as well as former arms negotiators, could do so again.
Let’s form a mock nuclear crisis commission composed of informed nongovernment people, from Russia, China, Germany, the United States and other countries, to gather and analyze what we do know about the American and Russian accusations of violations, and let them propose a rational solution.
It could well be that they see the president’s action as the most rational.
Chalmers Hardenbergh
Freeport
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