US preparing to take on Russia, China by quitting INF

Dennis Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in California, made the remarks after the US Navy test-fired four Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

The test launches were carried out by the Ohio class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska this week from an unspecified location off the coast of Southern California.

The USS Nebraska received the first series of improved Trident missiles in 2013. Dubbed D5 Life Extension, the missiles have improved range and electronics and would remain in service until 2040s, the report said.

The newer Trident missiles, called D5LE2, will be armed with the lower-yield W76-2 warheads, the kind of tactical nuclear weapons that US President Donald Trump’s administration said in its Nuclear Posture Review last year it would need to counter Russia with.

This is also part of the US government estimate that plans for modernizing and maintaining the country’s nuclear arsenal will cost nearly $500 billion over the next decade.

The new tests are also expected to draw a response from Russia.

Back in August, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “symmetric” response to the US military’s test-launch of a ground-launched cruise missile which he said could pose a threat to Moscow’s security.

The American missile has a range of more than 500 Kilometers and would have been banned under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which was abandoned by both the US and Russia in August.

Etler told Press TV on Sunday that Washington’s “withdrawal from the INF is part of its war plans for the 21st century. It never had any intention of staying within the confines of the treaty's obligations, no matter what Russia did. “

Etler said Washington could simply settle its INF disputes via dialogue but decided to abandon it instead, which shows it is not just “shifting the blame.”

“Whatever disputes regarding the treaty's implementation may have been, they could have been settled is the US had wanted to,” said the analyst. “Instead, it wanted to scuttle the treaty so it could go ahead with its policy of nuclear modernization and deployment against its new adversary, China.”

He said the Cold War-era deal was meant to prevent an arms race between America and the Soviet Union and later on Russia.

“But, there is a new kid on the block who Washington wants to intimidate and contain, and that is China. China, however, poses no nuclear threat to the US,” the academic argued. “It has pledged a no first use of its nuclear arsenal, which is a fraction of what either the US or Russia possess.”

“The real reason the US is upgrading its nuclear weapons and their delivery systems and for its withdrawal from the INF treaty is to allow it to position nuclear armed intermediate range ballistic missiles in the Asian Pacific region as a direct challenge to China in an attempt to throttle its rise both regionally and globally,” Etler added.

“This serves two purposes, to reinforce US hegemony in the region and to goad China into an expensive arms race in the hope that history will repeat itself, forcing China into an expensive arms race that will deflect from its otherwise peaceful rise,” he concluded.