What the Budapest Memorandum does and doesn’t require. John Haines explains the provisions of the 1994 agreement with Ukraine, and discusses the implications for future nonproliferation efforts. Here he addresses the question of U.S. and British “security guarantees”:

The qualifying clause in paragraph 4 of the Budapest Memorandum— “in which nuclear weapons are used” — is precisely the sort of language Mearsheimer admonishes as rendering any associated “security guarantees” meaningless. Given that Russia has neither used nuclear weapons nor so far threatened to do so, there is no referral to the United National Security Council[2], at least not under the Budapest Memorandum. All that document does is provide (see paragraph 6) for the signatories to “consult in the event a situation arises that raises a question concerning these commitments.” If that constitutes a “security guarantee,” it is a singularly flaccid one.

U.S.-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War. Paul Saunders reviews Angela Stent’s valuable new book, The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century.

There is no new Cold War. Victor Sebestyen, author of Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, explains why.

The effect of Crimea’s annexation on Karabakh peace negotiations. Emil Danielyan considers the possible damage to U.S.-Russian mediation of the Armenian-Azeri conflict.

Mapping Crimea. Antoine Blua reports on the differences among mapmakers over how to represent Crimea on their maps after Russia’s annexation. Eve Conant clarifies the National Geographic Society’s position.

The anti-warrior. Chase Madar profiles Micah Zenko for the new issue of TAC.

The use and abuse of just war theory. Damon Linker objects to Nigel Biggar’s In Defense of War.

The Allied strategic bombing campaigns of WWII. Jonathan Yardley reviews Richard Overy’s The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe, 1940-1945.

The intellectual roots of the French Revolution. Duncan Kelly reviews Jonathan Israel’s Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre.