# What's the story with international treaties? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-with-international-treaties/75922 "2001-08-12T17:41:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-with-international-treaties/75922/1 "2001-08-12T17:41:05Z")
About a year ago, as the campaign was going strong and Bush raised ABM defenses, everyone was aghast at the thought of violating the ABM treaty. Then several talking heads pointed out that the treaty was between the USSR and the USA; the former no longer existed, and it is established practice in international law that when a state dissolves, so do all treaty obligations. True, false, or somewhere in between? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-with-international-treaties/75922/2 "2001-08-12T17:45:13Z")
I think it’s a moot point, what with the same guys having the same nuclear weapons. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-with-international-treaties/75922/3 "2001-08-12T17:50:37Z")
I’ve heard that this is false. Russia is internationally recognized as the sole successor to the USSR so it inherits all treaties, agreements and debts. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-with-international-treaties/75922/4 "2001-08-12T19:14:12Z")
The ABM treaty has a clause in it that permits either party to withdraw from it with six months’ notice, in case of “extraordinary events”. It’s anybody’s guess what constitutes an “extraordinary event.” > [@](#): > > Each Party shall, in exercising its national sovereignty, have the right to withdraw from this Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events related to the subject matter of this Treaty have jeopardized its supreme interests. It shall give notice of its decision to the other Party six months prior to withdrawal from the Treaty. Such notice shall include a statement of the extraordinary events the notifying Party regards as having jeopardized its supreme interests. > [http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/abm/abm2.html](http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/abm/abm2.html) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-story-with-international-treaties/75922/5 "2001-08-12T21:18:46Z")
[This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=80578) has a pretty good discussion of how a countries obligations are handled after an internal upheaval. All the treaty issues relating to the fall of the USSR were handled years ago. Russia is considered to be the successor state to the Soviet Union. You have to wonder about the motives of these supposed experts who told you this story about ABM being null and void. Were they trying to imply that the whole country had simply forgotten about START, and SALT and ABM and the space treaty for the last decade whilst we waited for Russia to get its act together ? Not likely. What else were they trying to get you to believe and why ?