That’s one of the things that blows me away here: nobody in the halls of power of any country that professes to care about stopping nuclear proliferation did ANYTHING to backstop the the guarantees of the Budapest Memorandum. That has had the direct result of making it clear to every single country on earth that the deal was bullshit to begin with. Nuclear non-proliferation is dead.

Nuclear weapons are the final word in guaranteeing sovereignty and territorial integrity. Any country concerned about either of those things from anywhere, at any point in the future (Ukraine + anyone non- NATO and non-nuclear on Russia’s border; Japan; Taiwan; South Korea; Jordan; Egypt; Cuba; Canada; Mexico) should absolutely strive for their own nuclear program these days, or at the very least join a pact that pledges mutual defense.