| Line 591: |
Line 591: |
| | Clinton tried to contain Iraq, and used military attacks to make the point. Clinton launched a small cruise missile attack against Iraq in 1993 as a response to a suspected terrorist assassination attempt made on former President George H. W. Bush in Kuwait. In 1998, Clinton threatened military action when Iraq denied full access to UN weapons inspectors. On February 11, 1998 Bill Richardson told Margaret Warner of the PBS News Hour regarding [[Saddam Hussein]] and [[weapons of mass destruction]], | | Clinton tried to contain Iraq, and used military attacks to make the point. Clinton launched a small cruise missile attack against Iraq in 1993 as a response to a suspected terrorist assassination attempt made on former President George H. W. Bush in Kuwait. In 1998, Clinton threatened military action when Iraq denied full access to UN weapons inspectors. On February 11, 1998 Bill Richardson told Margaret Warner of the PBS News Hour regarding [[Saddam Hussein]] and [[weapons of mass destruction]], |
| | :''"We think this man is a threat to the international community, and he threatens a lot of the neighbors in his region and future generations there with anthrax and VX....Are we going to stand back and allow Saddam Hussein to continue developing Weapons of Mass Destruction?"''<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june98/iraq_2-11.html Ambassador Bill Richardson, Online Focus], The News Hour Transcript, 11 February 1998.</ref> | | :''"We think this man is a threat to the international community, and he threatens a lot of the neighbors in his region and future generations there with anthrax and VX....Are we going to stand back and allow Saddam Hussein to continue developing Weapons of Mass Destruction?"''<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june98/iraq_2-11.html Ambassador Bill Richardson, Online Focus], The News Hour Transcript, 11 February 1998.</ref> |
| | + | |
| | + | ===1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances: 1994=== |
| | + | {{See also|Near abroad|Uranium One scandal}} |
| | + | At the time of [[Ukraine]]'s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including an estimated 1,800 strategic warheads, 176 long-range ballistic missiles, and 42 strategic bombers. |
| | + | |
| | + | To solidify security commitments to Ukraine, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom signed the December 5, 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. The memorandum included assurances against the threat or use of force against Ukraine's territory or political independence. The countries promised to respect the sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine. |
| | + | |
| | + | The United States took custody and control of Ukraine's obsolete nuclear stockpiles for disposal in exchange for assurances by the United States and NATO to safeguard Ukraine's independence. Ukraine was coaxed to give up it nuclear weapons in exchange for a written pledge, should Ukraine ever be threatened or invaded, the United States would be there to intervene with military power. |
| | + | |
| | + | By 1996, Ukraine had returned all of its operational nuclear warheads to Russia in exchange for economic aid and security assurances, and Ukraine became a non-nuclear weapon state party to the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). The last strategic nuclear delivery vehicle in Ukraine was eliminated in 2001 under the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). It took years of political maneuvering and diplomatic work, starting with the Lisbon Protocol in 1992, to remove the weapons and nuclear infrastructure from Ukraine.<ref>[https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Ukraine-Nuclear-Weapons ]</ref> |
| | | | |
| | ===Human Rights=== | | ===Human Rights=== |