A mistake. There is no true security from large powers without nukes. Ukraine shows this. Alliances with the USA aren't reliable or an adequate replacement.
Can you please provide insight into this? As far as I can tell the U.S. has never failed to honor a treaty obligation, so the idea that it would suddenly abandon all commitments lacks historical precedent.
Ukraine is not now nor has ever been an ally To America. The Budapest Memorandum was not a defense treaty. It didn’t commit the U.S. to military intervention, it only committed the U.S. to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and take diplomatic action if it was threatened. We have done that with sanctions and aid.
It doesn't obligate us to do that into perpetuity nor does it keep us from being compensated for that aid. For perspective the price Britain paid for its survival in WW2 was its empire.
The USA is historically inclined to isolationism because of geography. The voters are now inclined to isolationism and the end of 'the brotherhood of nations' because of social media access, authoritarian agitprop, and failure of the American elites to keep the domestic situation comfortable and understandable. It will take a while before these trends reverse.
There is no point relying on an extractive, transactional, reluctant protector. The democracies of the world will have to arrange to engage in collective deterrence without the USA, because nothing is worse than having the rug pulled from under you at a critical time.
