Details emerged Thursday about a telephone call held between Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Trump blasted a treaty negotiated under the Obama administration that limits nuclear weapons deployments — after Trump reportedly paused the call with Putin to ask an aide about the treaty. According to a report by the Reuters news agency, Trump then denounced the New START treaty as favouring Russia. Russia is enthusiastic about Trump’s rhetoric about bettering relations and his re-examination of American exceptionalism, a philosophy that Putin has blasted as dangerous. “They have sanctions on Russia — let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,” Trump was reported as saying, according to Reuters and other news outlets. Trump mentioned the treaty, which he called the “start-up,” in all three debates with Democrat Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign.

Source: National Post February 10, 2017 16:35 UTC