binding limitations on ...

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In recent years the U.S. government has not set a good example, having abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty; binding limitations on testing nuclear weapons and development of new ones; and a long-standing policy of foregoing threats of "first use" of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states.

What does "binding" mean in the above context? Is it used as a transitive verb in "binding limitations"?

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@fansy,

It means "legally binding". The text is claiming that the US removed itself from legally binding treaties and suggesting that it did not have the legal right to do so.

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@Robert Gentel,

Quote:

In recent years the U.S. government has not set a good example, having abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty; binding limitations on testing nuclear weapons and development of new ones; and a long-standing policy of foregoing threats of "first use" of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states.

It's the two semicolons that confuse me. Can I understand the sentence this way:
The US has not set a good example--
1) it has abandoned ABM;
2) it has abandoned the limitations on testing nuclear weapons and development of new ones that are legally binding;
3) it has abandoned a long-standing policy of foregoing threats of "first use" of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states.

I am afraid I have missed the logic of Jimmy Carter's sentence because his use of the semicolon.

What do you think?

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@fansy,

Quote:

In recent years the U.S. government has not set a good example, having abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty; binding limitations on testing nuclear weapons and development of new ones; and a long-standing policy of foregoing threats of "first use" of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states.

How is the word "binding" used grammatically in this context? This is another question I have in mind.

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@fansy,

Quote:

... binding limitations on testing nuclear weapons ...

How is the word "binding" used grammatically in this context? This is another question I have in mind.

It's a present participle used as an adjective, Fansy.

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