Speaking in the front of the National Rifle Association and composed of representatives from the U.S. arms industry, Trump had declared he was preparing to inform the U.N that the U.S. would be withdrawing from the Arms Trade Treaty (a treaty which has been enforced since 2014), which has been regulating the international arms trade.
This happened on 2019, April 26. The term “withdrawal”, truthfully, is not adequate because the treaty has never been ratified by the U.S. Senate. However, the President’s announcement is part of a geopolitical orientation that is far from reassuring for those who would like to ensure world peace. Proposed with great effort in the UN headquarters, the Treaty was not signed by Russia and China. It was voted by the USA, moreover, by Barak Obama’s 2013 commitment to it. Months later, in September, the great Donald took care to put a stone on it, confirming to the General Assembly of the UN his intention to drop an important agreement like this.
The USA had recently already exited the INF treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. They have also withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal. But, the White House demolition rampage hasn’t stopped yet. One month later, in October, Trump sent a message to the House of Congress announcing his intention to withdraw the US from the Open Skies Treaty, signed in 1992. This follows the dissolution of the USSR and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and provides the world with the possibility of reciprocal air checks between NATO countries and those remaining in the Moscow area of influence.
The treaty has made, so far, about 1 500 unarmed observations flights, equally distributed among the countries that have joined it. This condition allowed diplomats on both sides to foster a climate of mutual trust in armaments and their deployment. On the occasion of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, for example, Putin did not oppose air inspections on the territory of the peninsula. This, in fact, took place regularly and without any obstacles.
According to many, the real proponent of this policy is the now former National Security Advisor John Bolton. At the time of Bush Junior presidency, he was already working for the withdrawal of the United States from the international disarmament treaties. It is known that Trump recently relieved Bolton of his rule, stating that there were differences of opinion.
It seems, however, that the former advisor is still able to influence U.S. foreign policy, by being spokesman for a part of Congress. In fact, according to some members, Washington would have dangerously lost its freedom in actions – on a planetary level – exactly when, after the collapse of the USSR in 1989, it could have declared itself the winner of the long cold war against Moscow.
