Budapest Memorandum
It is not a treaty and even if it was, in order to be “legally binding”, it should had been presented and approved by the Senate, which never happened.
“In the current crisis facing Ukraine, however, it is clear that U.S. government leaders are using the Memorandum as the basis for claims that Russia is acting illegally, and that, therefore, there must be some kind of response by the other signers of that agreement, if not from the international community in general. Thus, the official U.S. position is that the Memorandum is, in fact, legally binding.”
we can try to have it both ways but Putin won’t let that happen nor will Ukraine. If we back down, we are weak. If we push him, we are weak. It is a terrible situation for Ukraine, Europe and the rest of the world to be in.
It’s like being in an old Western saloon waiting for the guy who’s observed someone cheating to start the action going by calling the cheater out, the others at the table get angry and guns start going off...only there is no strong sheriff to come set to right all the wrongs.