Russia’s new nuclear rules are rattling Washington: In the 1970s, both countries obeyed clear boundaries and unwritten rules, write Dan De Luce and Reid Standish for Foreign Policy (paywall). Decisions on nuclear weapons, in particular, were kept apart from other issues and disputes around the globe, but the US is growing increasingly concerned with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “willingness to risk military confrontation and threaten to use his country’s nuclear arsenal over issues the West sees as unrelated and separate.” The next US president will inherit a relationship that has largely failed at deterring Putin from flouting a 1987 arms control treaty, pulling out of a landmark agreement on disposing tons of weapons-grade plutonium, and moving nuclear-capable missiles into Kaliningrad. A conciliatory stance to cut a bargain with Russia focused on Ukraine, would defuse tensions in the short term but ultimately embolden Putin. The more hawkish approach sported by Hillary Clinton would risk escalation, with the chance of a military showdown in Syria or the Baltics.