AMERICA IN TURMOIL ON THE DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN FRONTS
By Jason Sibert.
Our country has experienced a period of turmoil as of late.
We’ve witnessed large demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd, the effort and costs of fighting a pandemic, and coping with the Donald Trump Administration’s managing of both.
Periods of domestic unrest are sometimes combined with unrest in the system of nation-states. Joseph Nye Jr, a Harvard University professor, recently stated that periods of economic distress and political pressures put a damper on international cooperation. He cited the Trump Administration’s recent decision to abandon the World Health Administration and its blaming of China for the COVID-19 pandemic. Nye also said the administration’s policies combined with the nuclear arms race create a more dangerous world.
The toxic national and international mess created in part by President Trump also ignores recent history. Former Senator Sam Nunn (D -Ga.), current co-chairmen of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nuclear non-proliferation group, recently said that our country has forgotten the lessons of the Cold War He stated: “The more tensions you have in international relations, and the greater the level of crisis, the more likely it is that a mistake or miscalculation on either side will lead to a catastrophic error.” Nunn also addressed the dangers of the US, Russia, and China modernizing their nuclear arsenals, developing hypersonic missiles, or missiles that travel faster than the speed of sound and make missile defense systems obsolete, and also the Trump Administration’s exiting the Open Skies Treaty and the Intermediate-Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Trump has stated support for an arms control pact between the US, Russia, and China to limit all these countries arsenals, but China has no interest. We’re running out the clock on the last arms control treaty between our country and Russia – New Start. The only way to secure a better future is to remove this anti-arms control administration from office in November.
