Donald Trump sets world on uncertain nuclear path as US readies to pull out of Cold War-era treaty with Russia

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Updated: Feb 01, 2019 20:02 IST

Donald Trump appears set to end more than three decades of efforts with Russia to cut nuclear arsenals.

The US president intends to suspend US obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty before withdrawing fully in six months, Nick Wadhams and Margaret Talev report. That would leave the New START treaty as the only accord between the world’s two largest nuclear powers – and it’s due to expire in 2021.

The US accuses Russia of violating the 1987 treaty’s ban on land-based missiles with a range of 500-5,500 kilometers (300-3,500 miles). Russia denies the claim and President Vladimir Putin has warned of the risk of a ‘nuclear catastrophe’ if the global system of deterrence collapses.

While Putin has threatened confrontation by parading new weapons he says make U.S. defenses “ineffective,” Russia’s ailing economy can ill afford an arms race. The loss of nuclear treaties also dents Kremlin illusions that it remains a superpower on a par with its former Cold War foe.

Russia’s eager to save the INF treaty, even as the Trump administration shows no sign it wants to. Nuclear diplomacy is entering an uncertain new era.

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And finally ...The latest product to get entangled by US sanctions is a bit of an eye popper: false eyelashes allegedly made with North Korean materials. California makeup company Elf Beauty agreed to pay $996,800 after the Treasury Department found it had run afoul of sanctions on Pyongyang. The firm voluntarily disclosed the apparent violations – stemming from eyelash kits imported from China – and deemed them “non-egregious.”