Ep. 5326 – Kingston Reif on the Nuclear Tensions Between the US, Russia and China – 8/7/2020

Kingston Reif talks about the imminent lapse of the New START treaty, one of the last remaining nuclear safeguard agreements between the U.S. and Russia. Russia has made some moves to renegotiate the treaty, but the Trump administration has refused to do so, ostensibly in the name of making it much more restrictive, and of including China in the negotiations. These efforts would be admirable, Reif notes, except that there is little reason to believe they are legitimate. Reif suspects that the U.S. and Russia are actually both interested in being able to use the threat of medium range missiles to rein in China, and that Trump’s overtures are mostly an excuse to let the current treaty lapse. When it comes to nuclear issues, Reif and Scott agree that Trump has delivered on his worst promises to increase funding to the arms industry, while failing to follow through on his pledge to get along better with Putin.

Check out the interview page here: https://libertarianinstitute.org/scotthortonshow/8-7-20-kingston-reif-on-the-growing-nuclear-tensions-between-the-us-russia-and-china/

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