Russia Suspends Arms Treaty
Russia has suspended its participation in a key arms control treaty that governs deployment of troops and conventional weapons in Europe.
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Putin has in past months threatened to freeze his country's compliance with the treaty, angered over U.S. plans to base parts of a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
This isn't entirely a surprise, and things have been moving in this direction since Bush withdrew the US from the ABM treaty in 2002. Actions have consequences, and pushing NATO into former Warsaw Pact countries and even former Soviet republics was bound to cause consternation in Russia. Add the ABM treaty withdrawal and the push to put a ballistic missile shield on Russia's doorstep, and Putin's actions start looking quite reasonable from Russia's perspective.
This is another case where the Bush Administration acting as though there are no rules that apply to them, and therefore encouraging others to act the same way if they can, makes the world and the US itself a far less stable and safe place.
Stability for stability's sake is not generally a good policy, but upsetting every balance in pursuit of your own goals can quickly cause events to spiral out of control; yours and everyone else's. It seems we're all cursed to be living in interesting times.
