The failed negotiations over the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) between the United States and Russia spiked concerns in rising powers about their own security as well as global stability. The long-standing Treaty effectively dissolved as US President Donald Trump announced that his country would “suspend its obligations under the INF Treaty effective February 2, 2019” and gave Russia 180 days to remedy alleged violations on its side. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded in kind, however; Putin emphasized that his country’s actions would only be to “mirror” actions taken by Washington first (official statement in Russian here). Although the treaty was a bilateral agreement, President Trump’s demands to include China as a member state and growing uncertainty in the Indo-Pacific from other sources of tension have led to domestic discussions of how each country is measuring up to its neighbors. In this Policy Alert, we catch up on the Rising Powers’ weigh-ins. Read it here.
