In one of his most dangerous actions yet, the U.S. President has announced plans to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). Two world leaders who negotiated the Treaty with President Reagan, have had strong words in two “must read” Op Eds on the issue.
Secretary of State George Shultz was instrumental in negotiating with President Mikhail Gorbachev, a long-time associate of GSI and a valued member of Board of Advisors.
Gorbachev and Shultz did not accomplish utopia. But had they not stepped forward with President Reagan to build trust and change direction, instead of having less than 15,000 nuclear weapons the world would likely still have over 60,000, and the fear and animosity that characterized the decades of the Cold War could easily led us over the brink.
On October 25, 2018, both Gorbachev and Shultz wrote Op Eds in the New York Times, addressing President Trump’s actions.
“As a pretext for the withdrawal from the I.N.F. Treaty, the United States invoked Russia’s alleged violations of some of the treaty’s provisions. Russia has raised similar concerns regarding American compliance, at the same time proposing to discuss the issues at the negotiating table to find a mutually acceptable solution. But over the past few years, the United States has been avoiding such discussion. I think it is now clear why.
“With enough political will, any problems of compliance with the existing treaties could be resolved. But as we have seen during the past two years, the president of the United States has a very different purpose in mind. It is to release the United States from any obligations, any constraints, and not just regarding nuclear missiles.”
Mikhail Gorbachev: A New Nuclear Arms Race Has Begun
“Now is not the time to build larger arsenals of nuclear weapons. Now is the time to rid the world of this threat. Leaving the treaty would be a huge step backward. We should fix it, not kill it.”
Former Secretary of State George Shultz
Jonathan Granoff is the President of the Global Security Institute, a representative to United Nations of the World Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates, a former Adjunct Professor of International Law at Widener University School of Law, and Senior Advisor to the Committee on National Security American Bar Association International Law Section.
