V-Gram 2

December 5, 1995

The AB...What Treaty?!

The Washington Times reports a secret deal between the U.S. and Russia to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. That treaty, if memory does not deceive, was concluded with a country called Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. That country is no longer listed in recent AT&T international directories.

It appears that a decision by the Russians might be required. Were they themselves "helpless victims of Communist terror," as is often suggested, or are they the legal and otherwise successors to the Soviet Union? In the former case, all U.S.�Soviets treaties are by definition null and void. In the latter case they are a defeated enemy with little more negotiating position than the Axis in 1945.

And what of Americans? Concluding treaties with countries which treat agreements with open contempt has been a costly national pastime in this century. Are we now at the point of binding ourselves to treaties with non-existent parties, or are we trying to preserve the Soviet Union, at least as a fictional entity, so that those who have always dreamed of Socialism do not have to wake up?