US withdrawal from intl. treaties suggests new Cold War resumption: Analyst

The Trump administration’s internal discussions whether to resume nuclear testing while Washington has unilaterally withdrawn from a number of international treaties suggest that a new Cold War is in the making, says an American political commentator.

Mark Dankof, who is also a broadcaster and pastor in San Antonio, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday while commenting on destabilizing consequences of a revelation that the administration of US President Donald Trump was in discussion to conduct the United States' first nuclear test since 1992, amid rising tensions with Russia and China.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that a senior administration official and two former officials said the issue was raised at a May 15 meeting of senior national security officials after the White House accused Russia and China of carrying out low-yield nuclear tests.

Beijing and Moscow have denied the accusations.

Nonproliferation advocates warn of dire consequences if US resumes nuclear testing

Nonproliferation advocates warn of dire consequences after a report suggested the US has discussed resumption of nuclear testing.

The United States is the only country to have deployed a nuclear weapon against another nation, and carried out more than a 1000 nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992 when it stopped testing.  

“I really see no hope that there will be any significant reduction in commitment to policies that ultimately are designed to make the world a more dangerous place, not a safer place…I think that the unilateral cancellation of the INF Treaty and the Open Skies Treaty is suggestive of the fact that a new Cold War has resumed,” Dankof told Press TV on Sunday, in reference to the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

“We can see that this is not only a resumption ultimately of the Cold War, which was thought to have come to an end with the downing of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but this is a cold war that the United States is going to resume with Russia in a day and age when Russia has gone back to having a much closer relationship with China,” he added.

“Since this 9/11 tragedy, this has been the direction of American foreign policy in increased ways and again nothing good can come of this, it's entirely dangerous. The Cold War I believe has already resumed at some point, the resumption of this type of a situation is sure to lead, at some juncture, to a war that was entirely avoidable,” Dankof concluded.

The United States formally withdrew from the landmark 1987 INF pact with Russia in August last year after claiming that Moscow was violating the treaty, an accusation that Russia has denied.

The treaty, negotiated by then-US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, banned land-based missiles with a range of between 310 and 3,400 miles (500 to 5,500 km).

US tests ballistic missile over Pacific after INF treaty exit

The US has carried out its second test of a ballistic missile that would have been banned under the now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Trump has also expressed willingness to leave the Open Skies Treaty, which governs unarmed and reconnaissance overflights and was initially established to avert a conflict between the US and Russia.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir