94
votes
Why didn't the US just complement Russia's security demands to avoid the invasion of Ukraine?
Russia essentially asked to ban not-yet-joined ex-USSR countries, which I find quite reasonable for maintaining the so-called buffer zone.
That's not reasonable. Those are sovereign countries with ...
JJJ♦
- 39.1k
66
votes
Why is the EU concerned about the UK "unilaterally withdrawing" from a proposed Irish backstop?
The EU is acting in the interests of the remaining 27 members. In this case it is specifically acting in the interests and on the instructions of the Republic of Ireland, which opposes a hard border ...
- 1,190
66
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the US just complement Russia's security demands to avoid the invasion of Ukraine?
Well, the catch is that Russia put out two documents (the same day). You missed the other one which did have proposals found a lot more objectionable in the West.
Article 4
The Russian Federation and ...
59
votes
Is the US unusually prone to walking away from signed treaties/accords?
I only have an indirect argument:
The US is part of far more treaties than any other country (7,181 bilateral treaties; the next most active nation is France with 3,707 bilateral treaties). Somewhat ...
56
votes
Accepted
Does Congress not have to approve the US withdrawal from the Iran deal?
From Wikipedia:
Under U.S. law, the JCPOA is a non-binding political commitment. According to the U.S. State Department, it specifically is not an executive agreement or a treaty. There are ...
- 90.1k
52
votes
Is the US unusually prone to walking away from signed treaties/accords?
No
Actual ratified treaties have the full force of U.S. law and it is very rare for the U.S. to withdraw from them.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in ...
- 8,299
51
votes
Has Russia explained why Ukraine can trust them, given the Budapest memorandum?
Whatever Russia says it cannot be trusted at all. Treaties with Russia that rely on Russia keeping them mean nothing because Russia constantly breaks them. The Budapest Memorandum is not the 1st and ...
- 2,412
48
votes
Is Japan still bound by the terms of its surrender in WWII?
Yes
Pacta sunt servanda, agreements must be kept. The Treaty of San Francisco is 70 years old which is young compared to many older treaties. Agreements have a few "outs," neither of which are valid ...
- 10.9k
46
votes
Why is the EU concerned about the UK "unilaterally withdrawing" from a proposed Irish backstop?
What's so important about the border? It's because dividing Ireland means an open invitation for a civil war again. The Troubles may or may not materialize again, but everybody would rather play it ...
- 1,110
46
votes
Accepted
Why have Bulgaria, Hungary, Mongolia, and Poland withdrawn from the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological…?
Almost certainly didn't happen. Wikipedia makes/made the same claim about the four countries having withdrawn from the better known Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident. Both ...
42
votes
Why didn't the US just complement Russia's security demands to avoid the invasion of Ukraine?
Putin’s ultimatum was a pretext. Russia would have invaded anyway. Russian officials stated multiple times that the goal is claiming Ukrainian lands and dismantling the democratically elected ...
- 12.5k
40
votes
Accepted
Why does NATO accession require a treaty protocol?
The 1997 Congressional Research Service report NATO Enlargement:
The Process and Allied Views states:
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in considering the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, ...
- 673
36
votes
Why is the EU concerned about the UK "unilaterally withdrawing" from a proposed Irish backstop?
If either party can walk away unilaterally from part of an agreement, then what use is the negotiation in the first place? In this instance if the UK walks away from the backstop proposals ...
- 25k
32
votes
Is Japan still bound by the terms of its surrender in WWII?
Is Japan still bound by the terms of its surrender in WWII?
Yes, but...
Can the Japanese legally build an offensive military force to counter those threats? In other words, are they pacifists by ...
- 30.8k
32
votes
Accepted
What happens if a single NATO country like Poland decides to send troops to help Ukraine and gets attacked, would Article 5 still be invoked?
The comparison with Turkey's forces being attacked in Syria, even by Russia, (which did happen), isn't 100% relevant because Art.5 starts with
"The Parties agree that an armed attack against one ...
32
votes
Why didn't the US just complement Russia's security demands to avoid the invasion of Ukraine?
Because it would have accomplished nothing.
For the last 6 months, Russia has demonstrated that it will lie about just about anything that one can lie about. It has lied about not targeting civilian ...
- 4,149
26
votes
Accepted
Is the US allowed to execute an airstrike on Afghan soil after withdrawal under the provisions of the agreement that enabled it?
(This answer is analyzing the import of the agreement referred to in the question, not international law, which is another aspect)
Pretty much. About the only hard commitment the Taliban got nailed ...
- 88.2k
24
votes
Is the text of all UK treaties and laws public?
Is the text of all UK treaties and laws public?
The short answer is yes, though this has not always been true, so some older treaties that were made in secret might not yet be public.
There is also ...
- 9,101
22
votes
Accepted
Why hasn't Israel signed the biological weapons convention?
The second part of the question is simple and factual:
Signing is when the executive (President, Prime Minister, or their appointed minister) indicate the country's willingness to agree to a treaty. ...
- 124k
21
votes
Is the US unusually prone to walking away from signed treaties/accords?
Is the US unusually prone to walking away from signed
treaties/accords?
Does the US have an unusually high track record, for a stable and advanced country, of not following through on its ...
- 2,566
21
votes
Accepted
How would Germany increase its military size beyond 370,000 personnel?
First of all, it is quite unlikely that Germany would want to do that. They just intentionally downsized their military to 180,000 soldiers in the past decades when they first reduced and then ...
- 78.2k
21
votes
Accepted
Who can get UN kicked out of New York City?
The key part of the UN headquarters agreement is
Section 23 The seat of the United Nations shall not be removed from the headquarters district unless the United Nations should so decide.
So the ...
- 124k
21
votes
Accepted
Is Canada required to allow transit to and from Alaska?
There is no accord allowing free movement of people between the USA and Canada. Neither country has visa requirements for short term entry, but there is no agreement (like the Schengen accord in ...
- 124k
20
votes
Is there a political solution to climate change without some kind of world government
(Kyoto is superseded by Paris Protocol. FWIW: China, Russia and Iran all are signatories, they pollute at 7.4, 11.4 and 8.1t/capita respectively, considerably less than Australia (17t), Canada (18.5t) ...
- 88.2k
17
votes
On what grounds can NATO remove a member state from the organisation?
When the North Atlantic Treaty was signed first in 1949, no provision was included for removing a member state. Therefore I guess that there would be no legal pretense for removing a member state as ...
- 9,747
17
votes
Accepted
NATO attacking EU: what happens?
No (modern) international agreement condones wars of aggression. What article 5 of the NATO treaty and article 42 (7) of the TEU establish is an obligation to assist the country being attacked (with ...
- 31.4k
17
votes
Accepted
What international laws or treaties are there, if any, that encourage countries to prevent people from leaving their countries illegally
International law generally discourages countries from preventing people to leave, for example article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to leave any country, ...
- 31.4k
16
votes
What happens if a single NATO country like Poland decides to send troops to help Ukraine and gets attacked, would Article 5 still be invoked?
A single NATO member, Turkey, has sent troops to Syria and got attacked from Syria. NATO did not invoke collective defense.
Of course the overt military attacks on Turkey were hardly significant, and ...
- 113k
15
votes
Why is the EU concerned about the UK "unilaterally withdrawing" from a proposed Irish backstop?
Why is the EU concerned about the UK “unilaterally withdrawing” from a backstop
I don't think that is an accurate description of the issue.
Backstop
UK Pro-Brexit MPs want a backstop to have a time ...
- 9,101
15
votes
Accepted
Under international law, can a country partially withdraw from a treaty?
Article 44(1) of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties expressly forbids this:
A right of a party, provided for in a treaty or arising under article 56, to denounce, withdraw from or suspend ...
- 28k
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