quote:
The common narrative is that Ukraine gave up deterrence when agreeing to give up the nuclear arsenal, when in fact they never had operational control of these weapons.

Absurd how glib you are about Ukraine surrendering the 3rd largest nuclear stockpile in the world. Are you suggesting that it was no big deal what Ukraine did?

1) I'm certain sane leaders in the US & Europe weren't comfortable with a possible rogue nation with nukes pointed at them. Hoping that Ukraine cannot control them. That's even more frightening having a rogue state with out of control nukes.

2) I'm sure oil rich nations like Iran, Iraq, Libya or even N. Korea or other rogue actors would love to have purchased some nuclear components from this poor ex Soviet state to advance their programs. (Ex Soviet states were notorious for selling off old weapons on the black market).

3) The potential for a horrible nuclear accident because Ukraine can't maintain the weapons.

4) Maybe prevented a military intervention to secure these nukes because NATO/ US were determined to denuclearize Ukraine.

5) The 3rd largest nuclear stockpile in the world was peacefully surrendered & completely dismantled .Sounds like a great thing Ukraine agreed to.

Ukraine gave up these weapons for security assurances & respect to their sovereignty. It's time for the US / UK etc....to stand up to their commitments after Ukraine was stabbed in the back by Russia. Stop hijacking the thread rehashing this nonsense.

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Posted by MNCTigah

Member since Oct 2011

176 posts

Posted on 10/3/22 at 8:08 am to sugar71

quote:
Absurd how glib you are about Ukraine surrendering the 3rd largest nuclear stockpile in the world. Are you suggesting that it was no big deal what Ukraine did?

Glib? Surely not.

Only providing some additional context because it's often presented that Ukraine gave up its nuclear stockpile which leads to the presumption that the arsenal was in a ready and usable state. The backstory (as referenced in the cited article) is much more complicated. There was the long standing U.S. position of non-proliferation which applied to Belarus and Kazakhstan as well. For the inheritors of the stockpile, there was also the lack of nuclear infrastructure and impending financial difficulties to be incurred when dealing with nuclear weapons approaching the end of their service life.

I personally am of the opinion that Ukraine should have bartered for more. The U.S. paid 17 billion for the HEU (highly enriched uranium) and was a signatory to a murky Budapest Memorandum.

Extrapolating a bit further... The U.S. spent untold billions trying to dissuade North Korea and Iran from proliferating. The current military aid that we are providing to Ukraine is a pittance in comparison.