Countering Mainstream Narratives: Fake News, Fake Law, Fake Freedom

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Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika offers a comprehensive history of the INF Treaty signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, highlighting the complexities and efforts both nations undertook to ensure compliance. It illustrates how two adversarial countries collaborated to eliminate weapons that jeopardized global peace and security. The book showcases the pioneering efforts in on-site inspection, setting a standard for future arms control agreements. Ritter details the establishment of the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA) and the advanced compliance verification system implemented at a sensitive military facility in Votkinsk, Soviet Union. He shares his personal experiences, as well as those of other inspectors, alongside a wealth of archival material, to narrate the creation of OSIA and its operations during the initial three years at the Votkinsk portal. The narrative unfolds in a dynamic environment where the rules of arms control were being defined in real-time. Ritter also contextualizes these events within the broader socio-political changes in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev’s leadership, emphasizing the impact of perestroika and glasnost on Soviet society and economy. The treaty not only emerged from these reforms but also catalyzed significant changes in a factory town reliant on missile production, illustrating the profound implications of disarmament efforts.