It reads less as humor if you learn that the only reason Intermediate Missile Ban Treaty happened was that USA was going to use its failure to damage anti-nuke

It reads less as humor if you learn that the only reason Intermediate Missile Ban Treaty happened was that USA was going to use its failure to damage anti-nuke protests and peace movements by proposing "unreasonable ban that Soviets will surely reject". To utter surprise, the opening argument for "total ban on IRBMs" got accepted wholesale.