Didn't Take Long.

Just yesterday I reiterated the point that the United States will not continue with START and, bang, good ol' buddy Bolton confirms:

Having dismantled two of the three pillars of nuclear non-proliferation, the US now apparently wants to let the last one crumble as well. National Security Advisor John Bolton has said the New START is unlikely to be extended.Bolton, a notoriously hawkish Trump adviser, was addressing the Young America’s Foundation 41st annual National Conservative Student Conference on Tuesday, when he unleashed his scathing criticism on the New START struck under the Obama administration.Calling the landmark agreement “flawed from the beginning,” Bolton said that the deal failed to cover short-range tactical nuclear weapons and “Russian delivery systems,” without referring to any military hardware in particular.

Russians didn't hesitate and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was pretty explicit stating that if necessary Russia will position her inter-mediate range missiles closer to US territory to make the flight time shorter (in Russian). Recall my "small" disagreement with South Front earlier this year--here and here. For people who missed my slight disagreement with South Front, I repeat a (larger) scheme of things, how they will look like if Russia decides to take things closer to Caribbean Crisis 2.0. 

Generally speaking, positioning a variety of ballistic (or...drum roll...hypersonic gliders) closer to the United States in Chukotka fits quite well with Russia's development of her Arctic, and convenience stores and decent lodging will be made available pretty fast if push comes to shove. But! All this is just another "victory" of Trump's Administration, which continues its "winning" non-stop. I am getting a bit tired from this non-stop winning. So, make you own conclusions, after all latest Nuclear Posture Review disclosed more than was printed, or said. I liked this phrase from NPR-2018: 

The United States does not wish to regard either Russia or China as an adversary and seeks stable relations with both. 

LOL, and I am an alien from planet Zoltar.