If you ever read any of my comments on FR about Russia and Ukraine, you would know I don't give a rat's ass about either of those corrupt countries. I hope they destroy each other. Let's not destroy ourselves in the process. We have no national interest in Ukraine. We've been fighting proxy wars with Russia and China for decades. Can we please stop! It is Europe's problem, not ours, certainly not to the point of bankrupting our country, and leaving us with nothing to defend ourselves. We did our bit saving Europe in two World Wars. Let's not make it a triple header.
You know what? I agree. But we’re not five years old. We’re adults. We understand you can’t just say “stop fighting proxy wars” as if it is that easy, and not look like the bimbos in Miss Congeniality.
Memorandums of understanding, Accords, Mutual Defense Agreements, Binding Assurances, Security Guarantees and UN-FILED TREATIES, are statements of intent and the bases of trust between nations.
Sticking to them isn’t difficult.
Agreeing with them (or not) can be volatile.
Wanting to change the terms is problematic.
Breaking them has serious repercussions.
Simply ignoring them creates other problems.
Unilateral withdrawal from multiple multinational agreements like the Belovezha Accords or the Budapest Memorandum might save a buck or trillion, but it ain’t easy to do.
That’s why Russia IGNORES or VIOLATES its own commitments instead of unilaterally terminating those agreements it has no intention of sticking to.
To all intents and purposes, Russia is reneging even on the most fundamental UN Charter principles and yet still sits on the Security Council, saying it agrees with the principles it keeps violating!
The right approach is to give notice to EU NATO of the USA intention to withdraw from Europe altogether, let Europe pick up the slack in EU NATO, and then leave EU NATO to deal with its own problems. Maybe with a partnership agreement left in place to ensure leased kit is gradually returned to the USA.
If that increases the risk of Russia attacking the USA knowing that EU NATO won’t immediately open an Article 5 front in response, and vice versa, fine. At least you understood and accepted that risk.