by Robert Reich:Russian President Vladimir V. Putin today withdrew Russia from a plutonium disposal
treaty that was one of the key nuclear disarmament deals of the post Cold War. Signed in 2000, it required Russia and the United States to destroy military stockpiles of plutonium, the radioactive material used in some nuclear bomb cores. It was intended to diminish the risk that plutonium held in storage in Russian warehouses could slip into the hands of terrorists or other states.
But as Russia’s relations with the West have soured on a range of disputes -- including Syria and Ukraine and the Kremlin’s interference in the domestic politics of Western democracies – Putin is backtracking on nuclear agreements. American officials are accusing Russia of violating a treaty banning intermediate-range missiles launched from land.
Putin is a dangerous dictator who is turning Russia back into a totalitarian state. His admirer Donald Trump might not mind, but any sane person should find this worrisome.'
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