Mattis looks to calm European allies nervous about INF treaty

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS OCTOBER 28, 2018 / 7:54 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Mattis looks to calm European allies nervous about INF treaty

Idrees Ali
4 MIN READ

PRAGUE (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday that the United States was in consultation with its European allies on an arms control treaty, as NATO members urge Washington to try to bring Russia back into compliance with the pact rather than quit it.

President Donald Trump said on Oct. 20 that Washington planned to quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty which Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, and Ronald Reagan had signed in 1987.

Washington has cited Russia’s alleged violation of the treaty as its reason for leaving it, a charge Moscow denies. Russia in turn accuses Washington of breaking the pact and says it is working to answer U.S. questions about the pact.

“We are in consultations with our European counterparts, I was speaking about it the day before with the German defense minister, and so as I said the consultations continue,” Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Prague.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nuclear-mattis/mattis-looks-to-calm-european-allies-nervous-about-inf-treaty-idUSKCN1N20C0

[RHMerriman]

1. Even odds that Mattis ends up as caretaker when the whole rotten edifice that

Even odds that Mattis ends up as caretaker when the whole rotten edifice that is the Trump Administration comes down.

Our country could do a lot worse.