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Saturday, February 18, 2017

Ah Yes, I Remember It Well

In an article about a likely violation by Russia of a 1987 treaty on intermediate-range missiles, I nearly laughed out of my chair when I read this:

American and Russian relations were on a better footing in December 1987 when President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, signed an arms accord, formally known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and commonly called the I.N.F. treaty. [emphasis added]

For those too young to remember the 1980s, the media had spent the previous 7 years basically arguing that Reagan would get us into a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

Yet now that is a glorious pre-Trump era of relations on a better footing.

Unless of course you are a member of the media worried that Trump will be too friendly to Russia.

Which means that poor relations developed under Obama? Despite Hillary's "reset?"

It's always tough to remember whether we are at war with Eastasia or not.

Amazing.

On the policy side, Russian theater nukes are not useful against America, of course, for the most part.

Perhaps the Russians aren't as oblivious to the Chinese threat that they pretend to be by loudly focusing on the non-existent NATO threat in the west.