Civic Register
| 6.2.21
Biden to Keep U.S. Out of Open Skies Treaty With Russia After Criticizing Trump’s Withdrawal
Do you support or oppose the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Open Skies Treaty with Russia?
What’s the story?
- The State Dept. informed Russia late last week that it will not reenter the Open Skies Treaty despite President Joe Biden’s past support for the treaty and his criticism of then-President Donald Trump’s decision last year to withdraw the U.S. from the arms control treaty over violations by Russia.
- Biden supported the ratification of the Open Skies Treaty as a senator and during his presidential campaign then-candidate Biden blasted Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. from the Open Skies Treaty in May 2020, when he released a statement that read in part:
“In announcing the intent to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, President Trump has doubled down on his short-sighted policy of going it alone and abandoning American leadership… He should remain in the Open Skies Treaty and work with allies to confront and resolve problems regarding Russia’s compliance.”
- The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 and took effect in 2002. It allowed each member nation to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over other member nations on short notice to gather data on military forces and activities with sensors onboard to identify significant military equipment. While satellites can provide similar intelligence, not all nations that were party to the treaty had that technology available to them.
- By allowing the 26 nations that ratified the treaty to carry out surveillance over the entirety of another member nation’s territory without restriction, the Open Skies Treaty aimed to build confidence and trust between Russia and the West about potential threats through the overflights. Between 2002 and 2019 over 1,500 flights occurred pursuant to the treaty.
- In recent years the U.S. and Russia accused the other of violating the treaty. Russia restricted flights over Kaliningrad (a Russian territory located between NATO members Poland and Lithuania, both of which signed the Open Skies Treaty) and over Russian-occupied regions of Georgia, while it also attempted to block NATO members from sharing data from flights over Russia with the U.S.; and Russia accused the U.S. of blocking flights over Alaska.
- For its part, Russia has rebuffed efforts to return to compliance with the treaty and both the upper and lower chambers of Russia’s parliament have voted to formally withdraw the country from the Open Skies Treaty in recent weeks, which will be finalized with the signature of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
- Biden is expected to meet with Putin on June 16th in Geneva, Switzerland. The demise of the Open Skies Treaty leaves the New START Treaty as the only major arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia that is still active.
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: White House photo by Adam Schultz via Flickr / Public Domain)
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I support any tactic which will let Putin know that his puppet is no longer in charge and that his country needs to get in line with the ethical and legal standards of the world. His criminal behavior must have severe consequences.
Let’s look at the bigger picture in the first 100 days Joe Biden’s term he’s accomplished more than Donald Trump did in four years, in fact the only thing Donald Trump did accomplish is to kill a half 1 million Americans if you want to call that an accomplishment. So with Trump in the White House and the Republicans in control of the Senate and Congress they wasted four years doing nothing. In the meantime Joe Biden has vaccinated more than half of America. Which is most likely everyone but Republicans which is fine with me let’s get stupid out of the gene pool, is it going to pass a huge infrastructure bill to rebuild the roads that anyone can see Republican or Democrat and completely disintegrating across America Also on his watch this week a multi million dollar ransom ware plot was foiled meanwhile Donald Trump is walking around with his pants on backwards.
Off the topic but why can't Pedo Biden pay attention to the crisis at the borders! Huh? WHY?!?! why is he turning a blind eye?
Hooray for Joe Biden for refusing the Republicans proposal on the infrastructure bill. It’s just like the Republicans to try to keep Americans out of work and try to rebuild America. All you have to do is take a look at any road in your city to realize how far down the Republicans have run this country.
Great. The two specially outfitted planes that were loaded with surveillance equipment and no weaponry were ordered out of service by the trump who also ordered that they immediately be disassembled and scraped. This was just before the Russia troop buildup on the Ukrainian border and the rapid establishment of Russian aircraft and military bases that encircle the arctic. This is another thing that should be investigated. Why did the trump do this? There was a lot of surprise from military command over this decision. There was no political notification reported of the trump’s actions before they were already completed or well underway (the aircraft ‘dismemberment’). … … … The open skies treaty allowed member nations to fly over each other with fairly short notice. It was a valuable resource for us and our allies. Surveillance by aircraft provides a clearer picture of ground troop movements and facilities than possible with satellites. There were a couple of issues with Russian surveillance aircraft not following their announced flight paths and endangering commercial aircraft traffic. … … … It would take a non-trivial amount of time to restore the capabilities that the the ex-President, our blunder-in-chief, destroyed. The cost of restoring these aircraft with Russia dropping out of the treat may be a little too high at this time, but I would still do this as they may be needed in the future as geopolitical tensions rise.
It seems like we should be trying a little harder to work together with other countries, especially troublesome ones like Russia and China. If we don’t, tensions will escalate very quickly and it will bring the world closer to war. If Russia wants to leave the treaty, that’s their decision and we’d have to decide what to do then, but us leaving before them and not even trying to reconcile the treaty made no sense. I agree with what Biden said before.
Don’t trust Russia.
There is no point in making treaties where there are no penalties or consequences for not following it, the US is the only one who abides by the treaties.
Since the Russians aren't keeping their side of the treaty it seems like a worthless piece of paper.
Get involved now... no withdrawal
We need to negotiate a new treaty. Russia backed out of this, so there’s no point in rejoining now.
B.R. : Regarding the fact that Biden made the same decision as the trump is that there is no point trying to resurrect a treaty principally abandoned by the trump for no apparent reason and surprising everyone involved. He also ordered the scrapping and dismantlement of the highly specialized aircraft built for this treaty (instead of moth-balling these aircraft which would have allowed redeployment of these resources) which prevented close observation of Putin’s troop movements on the Ukrainian border and new Arctic circle military bases - all of which intensified after our aircraft were scrapped for no apparent reason. Later the Russian government officially withdrew from the treaty when it was clear that Biden would win the election. The treaty was mainly designed to ensure mutual transparency to all member countries, particularly the United States and Russia. … … … The trump did not only abandon the treaty, he dismantled our countries ability to participate in it without any explanation or rationale - greatly aiding Putin’s expansionism. So, with Russia formally withdrawing from the treaty, just what would be the point for us to continue with it? … … … False equivalences are great tools for spreading disinformation. What the trump did left Biden with no other choice but to do what he did. The actions of these two are not at all the same, and dishonestly drawing false conclusions that they are without thinking is dangerous and stupid.
Don't be involved in treaties where we are the only acting participants. If the other side doesn't fulfil their side, get out.
My understanding is that we come out better than Russia does in the treaty.
It is possible that President Biden will use this treaty as a bargaining chip or maybe a threat during his meeting with Vladimir Putin in July. Open Skies has its pros and cons.
We need to start over with Russia, it seems. Putin has no interest in honoring these decades-long agreements, so it's fine that we don't renew them, but we need new agreements then. We can't keep disengaging from Russia completely, but hopefully in this new era of diplomacy President Biden can come to an agreement that works for the US and that Russia will actually adhere to. Since Putin is not an honest leader, though, I doubt he'll honor any treaty. I'm not sure what the answer is, but diplomacy must continue.
I’m against anything agent Orange was for.
What a joke - orange man bad, but his policies good? Shame! Rejoin the treaty
anything to ameliorate tensions betwixt us & them ought to be done if sane & practical
This is so beyond my level of comprehension at the moment. I am still trying to figure out why politicians think Trans children are a threat.