A Relic of the Past

Gorbachev transformed the political climate, and with the Reykjavik Summit, the subsequent signing of the INF Treaty became a symbol of the beginning of the end of the Cold War. [...] In the process, which publicly began in 2014 with the US Bureau of Arms Con- trol’s report of Russian non-compliance, leading to the demise of the INF Trea- ty, and in the current and foreseeable future, none of the conditions which had led to the INF question in the late 1970s are present. [...] Finally, the treaty also established a Special Verification Commit- tee for the discussion and resolution of compliance issues.1 Overall, the treaty 12 A RELIC OF THE PAST: Why the demise of the Cold War’s INF Treaty will not alter the strategic military balance resulted in the elimination of 2692 medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles on the part of [...] While the American literature on nuclear deterrence is vast, in its basic form it is underpinned by the assumption that under the condition of MAD, nuclear war is unthinkable and unwinnable.5 Yet, under the hostile, adversarial con- ditions of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union threatened to do the unthinkable and unwinnable, as the backbone of their defence and security. [...] On the American side,10 the central concern or focus of the debate that would emerge was the deployment of a new generation of Soviet IRBMs – the 14 A RELIC OF THE PAST: Why the demise of the Cold War’s INF Treaty will not alter the strategic military balance SS-20.11.