Well let me first respond to WZeranski On January 13 1992, Russia announced unilaterally their succession to all Soviet arms agreements. On September 26, 1997 Belarus Kazakhstan Russia Ukraine and the US signed what is known as THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING RELATING TO THE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS ON THE LIMITATION OF ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE SYSTEMS Here are some links to the text of the agreement http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/abmt/text/ad-mou.html http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/factsheets/missdef/abm_mou.html Although this follow on has yet to be ratified, there is room to argue that since the US has continued the timetable set forth for the meetings every 5 years in the original treaty that the US has recognized Russia as the de facto successor which is a binding action under International Norms dating back centuries. Now don?t get me wrong, I actually think we should just give our six month notice and abrogate the treaty. Russia certainly has not allowed this treaty to stop them from developing systems that violate the standards set out in the framework while the US has hamstrung our own research and development in an effort to avoid violating the treaty. The only reason this is an issue now, is we are nearing the point that our development process will violate the treaty, although it has not yet. Now I have a few questions for JCO. First, name one treaty the US has ratified (meaning it has been submitted to the US Senate and passed) that we have violated? Second, which nations have been or are now demanding the US get more involved in the following conflicts? A. The Balkans B. The Middle East The irony is that the US is often called upon to handle situations, which we would rather leave to others, and normally lend themselves to us be stuck between a rock and a hard place. While we receive from our allies and friends increasing criticism saying we are acting as the policeman and we are too uninvolved at the same time. Next time that a nation calls screaming for aid or assistance maybe, we should just let the machine get it. One final request, before anyone tries to debate me concerning the ABM treaty, please do both of us the simple courtesy of reading the actual text here is a link to it. http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/abmt/text/abm2.htm