NATO vassals ‘fully support’ Pindo action on INF treaty
Reuters, Feb 1 2019
BRUSSELS – Faschingstein will soon announce plans to suspend compliance with the INF Treaty with Russia, responding to alleged violations by Moscow, Pindo boxtops said on Thursday. A statement by NATO said:
NATO vassals fully support Pindostan’s pending withdrawal notice from the INF nuclear missile pact over Russia’s actions. Pindostan is taking this action in response to the significant risks to Euro-Atlantic security posed by Russia’s covert testing, production, and fielding of 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile systems. NATO vassals fully support this action.
Pindostan suspends compliance on weapons treaty with Russia
Lesley Wroughton, Arshad Mohammed, Reuters, Feb 1 2019
FASCHINGSTEIN – Pindostan will suspend compliance with the INF Treaty with Russia on Saturday and formally withdraw in six months if Moscow does not end its alleged violation of the pact, Pompeo said on Friday. Pindostan would reconsider its withdrawal if Russia, which denies violating the landmark 1987 arms control pact, came into compliance with the treaty, which bans either side from stationing short- and intermediate-range land-based missiles in Europe. Pompeo told reporters at the State Department:
Russia has refused to take any steps to return real and verifiable compliance. We will provide Russia and the other treaty parties with formal notice that Pindostan is withdrawing from the INF treaty, effective in six months. If Russia does not return to full and verifiable compliance with the treaty within this six-month period by verifiably destroying its INF-violating missiles, their launchers, and associated equipment, the treaty will terminate.
Pindostan alleges the pact is violated by a new Russian cruise missile, the Novator 9M729, NATO reporting name SSC-8. Russia says the missile’s range puts it outside the treaty, and has accused Pindostan of inventing a false pretext to exit a treaty that it wants to leave anyway so it can develop new missiles. Russia rejected a Pindo demand to destroy the new missile. Peskov told reporters on Friday that Pindostan had been unwilling to discuss the issue. A few hours before Pompeo’s announcement a statement from NATO said the alliance would “fully support” the Pindo withdrawal notice. Some experts believe the collapse of the INF Treaty could undermine other arms control agreements and speed an erosion of the global system designed to block the spread of nuclear arms. European officials are especially worried about the treaty’s possible collapse, fearful that Europe could again become an arena for nuclear-armed, intermediate-range missile buildups by Pindostan and Russia. Speaking before Pompeo’s announcement, Angela Merkel emphasized the importance of using the six-month window to keep talking, saying:
It is clear to us that Russia has violated this treaty. The important thing is to keep the window for dialogue open.
Senator Bob Menendez, the senior Demagog on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accused Trump failing to grasp the importance of arms control treaties and of failing to develop a wider strategy to control the spread of nuclear weapons. He said in a statement:
Today’s withdrawal is yet another geostrategic gift to Vladimir Putin.
Skirting Pindo sanctions, Europeans open new trade channel to Iran
John Irish, Riham Alkousaa, Reuters, Feb 1 2019
PARIS/BERLIN – France, Germany and Britain have opened a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert Pindo sanctions, although diplomats say it is unlikely to allow for the big transactions that Tehran says it needs to keep a nuclear deal afloat. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters after a meeting of EU counterparts in Bucharest:
It is a political act. It is a gesture to protect European companies.
Iran has threatened to pull out of the deal unless the European powers enable it to receive economic benefits. The Europeans have promised to help companies do business with Iran as long as it abides by the deal. New Pindo sanctions have largely succeeded in persuading European companies to abandon business with Iran, and Faschingstein said on Thursday that it did not expect the EU effort, known as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), to change that. A State Dept spox said:
We do not expect the SPV will impact our maximum economic pressure campaign in any way.
A senior Trump administration bboxtop said:
Pindostan questions the efficacy of the SPV and remains committed to fully enforcing its sanctions.
The SPV was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods, but those ambitions have been toned down, with diplomats saying that realistically it will be used only for smaller trade, for example of humanitarian products or food. One European diplomat said:
It won’t change things dramatically, but it’s an important political message to Iran to show that we are determined to save the JCPoA and also to Pindostan to show we defend our interests despite their extraterritorial sanctions.
The EU has spent months preparing the system and it will take several months more to become operational. Britain’s Jeremy Hunt said the three countries were working closely with Tehran to finalise arrangements. Hunt said:
Registration is a big step, but there is still more work to be done.
The Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges, or INSTEX, is registered in France and will be headed by German banker Per Fischer, a former Commerzbank director. The three European powers are shareholders and hope other states will join later, although a senior German official said this was not imminent. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the mechanism was a good first step. The European powers must now establish a budget for INSTEX and define its rules. Iran must also set up a mirror company. Araqchi was quoted by Tasnim as saying:
It seems that Iran should set up the same system inside Iran to organise rial transactions for Iranian companies.
The Pindo Embassy in Germany said it did not expect INSTEX to blunt its effort to pile economic pressure on Tehran. Even as the EU has worked to preserve the nuclear deal, relations with Tehran have been worsening. The EU this month imposed its first sanctions on Iran since the nuclear pact, in response to the ballistic missile tests and assassination plots on European soil. In a symbolic move, the EU added two Iranian individuals and an Iranian intelligence unit to its terrorist list. The three big European powers are also assessing whether to push for new sanctions on Iran over its missile programme, diplomats have told Reuters. Hunt said:
We are clear; this commitment does not in any way preclude us from addressing Iran’s hostile and destabilising activities.
Niqnaq 