[IsraelTimes] The Trump administration notifies international partners that it is pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other’s territory — overflights set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict.We have satellites, so no need to send airplanes containing future hostages.
The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact, and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from US or commercial satellites.See? And now we’ll know what you want to see when you purchase the information.
Exiting the treaty, however, is expected to strain relations with Moscow and upset European allies and some members of Congress.President Dwight Eisenhower first proposed that the United States and the former Soviet Union allow aerial reconnaissance flights over each other’s territory in July 1955. At first, Moscow rejected the idea, but president George H.W. Bush revived it in May 1989, and the treaty entered into force in January 2002. Currently, 34 nations have signed it; Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it yet.
More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty, aimed at fostering transparency about military activity and helping monitor arms control and other agreements. Each nation in the treaty agrees to make all its territory available for surveillance flights, yet Russia has restricted flights over certain areas.
And now we know where to look. How clever of them.
Last month, top Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in both the House and the Senate wrote to Trump accusing the president of "ramming" a withdrawal from the treaty as the entire world grapples with COVID-19. They said it would undermine US alliances with European allies who rely on the treaty to keep Russia accountable for its military activities in the region.We’ll keep Russia accountable with satellites. But why are House Democrats fussing? It’s only the Senate that has anything to do with ratifying and unratifying treaties.