The head of the German CDU: the Conflict in Ukraine may not be the only one that carries a nuclear threat
The military conflict in Ukraine may turn out to be a "small problem" compared to the difficulties that the West is likely to face in the foreseeable future. This was stated by the leader (head) of the German party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz.
In his opinion, the Western world, represented by the European Union, the United States and NATO, is waiting for other crises in which the threat of nuclear war will be clearly present. This applies to the three nuclear powers: China, Iran and North Korea. In this regard, the collective West needs to learn from the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian confrontation and resume disarmament negotiations in order to avoid a dangerous confrontation in the future.
In his words, Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang are following the "road beaten by Russia" and "attacking the existing world order." Moreover, it is not at all necessary that everything will come to the use of WMD (nuclear exchange).
Their mere existence changes the course of hostilities. In Europe and the US, the fear of Russia's use of nuclear weapons still prevents the EU and NATO from effectively defending Ukraine
- he considers.
Merz recalled that in December 1987, the US and Soviet presidents, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) in Washington, but the conclusion of the bilateral agreement was preceded by a show of force. He is confident that the West must demonstrate "the same will to defend" its interests today, so that Russia's actions in Ukraine do not inspire other "authoritarian regimes."
Note that Merz for some reason forgot to say that it was the United States that withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019. In 2002, due to the unilateral actions of Washington, the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, signed in May 1972, ceased to exist.
In turn, in February 2021, the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START III) between the Russian Federation and the United States came into force. It became the seventh in a series of bilateral treaties between the USSR/Russia and the United States on the Limitation of Strategic Nuclear Forces (START) since 1972. February 21, 2023 Russian President Vladimir Putin сообщил about the forced suspension of Moscow's participation in this agreement due to the actions of the West.
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