ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Monday, May 16, 2022
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT

Ukraine and the Bucharest Memorandum, By Femi Mimiko

The Budapest Memorandum was negotiated and adopted within a specific context.

Femi MimikobyFemi Mimiko
March 20, 2022
in Analysis, Opinion

The bottomline in all of these is that President Zelensky of Ukraine has not demonstrated enough purchase on statecraft. The man didn’t come into office with the requisite cognate experience; and thus, he has conducted his country’s diplomatic engagements from a very dangerously unrealistic standpoint that has now thrown it into a mess… what Zelensky should seek, and very quickly too, is an end to this needless war, with a view to salvaging what remains of his country.

So much is being made of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, which formed the basis of divesting Ukraine of its nuclear arsenal, in exchange for security guarantees for the former Soviet republic. It was negotiated by U.S., U.K., Russia and Ukraine – in conformity with the nuclear non-proliferation principle. The February 24 invasion of Ukraine by Moscow is, in several quarters, now being touted as tantamount to a violation of the sanctity of the Memorandum. This is a note of analysis and caution on this.

First, the Budapest Memorandum was negotiated and adopted within a specific context. The nuclear arsenal stationed in Ukraine, while the Soviet Union lasted, couldn’t have been seen, by any stretch of imagination, as belonging to Ukraine upon the collapse of the USSR. Rather, Russia was and remains, legally and strategically, the successor state to the defunct USSR, and thus the one country that could legitimately take possession of, and house such formidable nuclear forces. All the parties to the Bucharest Memorandum knew this. It was indeed the basis of the negotiations in the first instance. So, Ukraine was not doing Russia, or indeed anyone, a favour by turning over the bombs to Moscow. Its action was simply a recognition of the reality of the moment, defined as unequal power capabilities between and among the contending nations.

Secondly, while technically the Budapest Memorandum was supposed to guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty, even this was not without some caveats. None of the parties to the agreement would have expected Russia to keep clutching the Budapest Memorandum, when a new government in Ukraine – from the mid-2000s – set at some dangerous political manoeuvres, which Moscow kept decrying as constituting existential threat to its own national security. Meanwhile, there are precedents in contemporary diplomatic history of how countries of comparable power capability to Russia, dealt with similar security situations and challenges in the past. To expect Russia to stand akinbo and look on, while the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) steadily prosecuted its agenda for expansion into Ukraine, was unrealistic. And this is not necessarily a justification of the expanding scope of Russia’s extant military campaign in hapless Ukraine. It isn’t.

The foregoing has implications for Nigeria, as Africa’s largest country inches towards the election of a new president, early in 2023. It speaks to the dangers associated with investing inexperienced, mentally immobile, irascible individuals, and extremists, who lack the ability to think things through, with ultimate power. And a compass on this, there is, in the Bible, in Ecclesiastes 10: 16 – “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!”

Thirdly, what the Budapest Memorandum expressly guaranteed was the commitment of all parties to Ukraine’s aid, if after giving up the nuclear arsenal, it came under NUCLEAR attack. It wasn’t an open cheque of support, as it were – regardless of the circumstances – that the country got.

The bottomline in all of these is that President Zelensky of Ukraine has not demonstrated enough purchase on statecraft. The man didn’t come into office with the requisite cognate experience; and thus, he has conducted his country’s diplomatic engagements from a very dangerously unrealistic standpoint that has now thrown it into a mess. Even now, more than three weeks after the guns started booming, with the critical infrastructure of his country laid to waste, and the palpable but understandable reluctance of the U.S. and NATO to enter into direct armed confrontation with Russia, what Zelensky should seek, and very quickly too, is an end to this needless war, with a view to salvaging what remains of his country. Extant pretences on his part, with him decked in olive green vests, and seeking to cut the image of a victim-hero, are misguided. Even when he is being edged on by the West, and its powerful news media with their extensive global reach, the Ukrainian leader’s good sense should have led him to an incontrovertible truth: that he was leading his country on the path to destruction; in a manner not unlike what, in a different context, the much hated Saddam Hussein did, at least twice in his very tortuous and highly discredited career. Zelensky should, therefore, seek a quick way out of what, to all intents and purposes, is a quagmire, and save his proud and heroic people from extant trauma.

The foregoing has implications for Nigeria, as Africa’s largest country inches towards the election of a new president, early in 2023. It speaks to the dangers associated with investing inexperienced, mentally immobile, irascible individuals, and extremists, who lack the ability to think things through, with ultimate power. And a compass on this, there is, in the Bible, in Ecclesiastes 10: 16 – “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!”

Femi Mimiko, mni, is professor of Political Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; and a member of the National Institute. E-mail: femi.mimiko@gmail.com; Twitter: @FemiMimiko

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate



TEXT AD: To place an advert here . Call Willie - +2348098788999

1X Bet AD


JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (2)
premiumtimes





PT Mag Campaign AD

Tags: Budapest Memorandum of 1994North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)President ZelenskyUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Previous Post

The controversial court order that changed Nigeria’s electoral law (DOWNLOAD)

Next Post

Russia-Ukraine War: Nigerians in Russia speak on experiences, expectations

Next Post
Russia on map

Russia-Ukraine War: Nigerians in Russia speak on experiences, expectations

Read All Comment

Search

AUN-PT Ad





Transport-Technology


Stanbic Ad


Access Bank Ad





Glo Ad


Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,837,354 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert



Zenith Advert

ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • #PandoraPapers
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Opinion
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.