[syki]

It’s hard to give meaningful security assurances when the powers involved have nuclear weapons. Ukraine is far more important to Russia than it is to the U.S. Clearly the U.S. is not willing to go to war with a nuclear power over Ukraine. Treaties are only as useful as the willingness of the signatories to abide by them and/or enforce them.

[Miraste]

That's the point: nuclear weapons are a much better guarantee of safety than treaties and assurances. Compare what happened to Libya and Iraq to Iran and North Korea and it's clear that the only way to be secure in the modern age is to get nukes as fast as possible, and ignore any threats or offers to the contrary.

[chernevik]

True, but we could have done a great deal more to help Ukraine. Keeping Europe energy independent from Russian for one thing, and better supplying the Ukrainians with arms for another.