Trump’s Nuclear Testing Talk Aimed More at Congress Than Russia: Observer
The warhead-containing nose cone of an inert Minuteman 3 missile is seen in a training launch tube at Minot Air Force Base, N.D. 
“I believe this statement is aimed exclusively at a domestic audience, since in foreign policy and cooperation with nuclear powers such as Russia or China, such issues are not resolved by any one statement,” Higher School of Economics analyst Egor Toropov told Sputnik, commenting on Washington’s announcement of US plans to resume nuclear testing.“As our president has emphasized, if [US] nuclear tests are actually carried out, Russia reserves the right, and most likely conduct them as well,” Toropov said, referring to President Putin’s remarks at last Wednesday’s emergency Security Council meeting.Washington’s nuclear testing announcement should “be seen in the context of [the president’s] use of rhetorical pendulum diplomacy,” swinging back and forth between “cooling and increasing pressure,” epitomized in his Ukraine policy, Toropov said, recalling US threats to deliver Tomahawks to Ukraine, and then swinging back the other way.
RussiaPutin Has Not Ordered Nuclear Test Preparations, Decision Must Be Carefully Weighed – Kremlin9 November, 10:56 GMTPlus, Trump cannot ignore the legislative branch and its traditionally hawkish stance vis-à-vis Russia, exemplified in Lindsey Graham’s* “bone crushing” 500% tariff threats.Congress’s power to draft and pass budgets, including foreign policy-linked expenditures like defense, means the president is forced, even with majorities in the Senate and House, to take lawmakers’ demands into account, Toropov says.“There’s currently a bipartisan consensus in the Senate that the US needs to increase defense spending, increase geopolitical pressure globally, and not yield to nuclear-armed geopolitical rivals,” the expert explained.In this light, “Trump’s announcement about nuclear testing is less a form of presidential pressure on Congress than a form of feedback. That is, Congress, by threatening new sanctions, new restrictions, new tariffs behind Trump’s back, is tying his hands, and Trump is forced to take a tougher stance, primarily in the rhetorical sense…with rare exceptions that aren’t particularly significant for Russia,” Toropov summed up.
AnalysisUS Nuclear Brinkmanship to Corner Russia Will Backfire – Analysts8 November, 05:12 GMT* Designated an extremist and terrorist by Russia.
