https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/international-law-is-a-meaningless?s=w

Australian whistleblower David McBride just made the following statement on Twitter

"I’ve been asked if I think the invasion of Ukraine is illegal.

My answer is: If we don’t hold our own leaders to account, we can’t hold other leaders to account.

If the law is not applied consistently, it is not the law.

It is simply an excuse we use to target our enemies.

We will pay a heavy price for our hubris of 2003 in the future.

We didn’t just fail to punish Bush and Blair: we rewarded them. We re-elected them. We knighted them.

If you want to see Putin in his true light imagine him landing a jet and then saying ‘Mission Accomplished’."

As far as I can tell this point is logically unassailable. International law is a meaningless concept when it only applies to people the US power alliance doesn't like. This point is driven home by the life of McBride himself, whose own government responded to his publicizing suppressed information about war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan by charging him as a criminal.

Neither George W Bush nor Tony Blair are in prison cells at The Hague where international law says they ought to be. Bush is still painting away from the comfort of his home, issuing proclamations comparing Putin to Hitler and platforming arguments for more interventionism in Ukraine. Blair is still merily warmongering his charred little heart out, saying NATO should not rule out directly attacking Russian forces in what amounts to a call for a thermonuclear world war.

They are free as birds, singing their same old demonic songs from the rooftops.

When you point out this obvious plot hole in discussions about the legality of Vladimir Putin's invasion you'll often get accused of "whataboutism", which is a noise that empire loyalists like to make when you have just highlighted damning evidence that their government's behaviors entirely invalidate their position on an issue. This is not a "whataboutism"; it's a direct accusation that is completely devastating to the argument being made, because there really is no counter-argument.

The Iraq invasion bypassed the laws and protocols for military action laid out in the founding charter of the United Nations. The current US military occupation of Syria violates international law. International law only exists to the extent to which the nations of the world are willing and able to enforce it, and because of the US empire's military power — and more importantly because of its narrative control power — this means international law is only ever enforced with the approval of that empire.

This is why the people indicted and detained by the International Criminal Court (ICC) are always from weaker nations — overwhelmingly African — while the USA can get away with actually sanctioning ICC personnel if they so much as talk about investigating American war crimes and suffer no consequences for it whatsoever. It is also why Noam Chomsky famously said that if the Nuremberg laws had continued to be applied with fairness and consistency, then every post-WWII U.S. president would have been hanged.

This is also why former US National Security Advisor John Bolton once said that the US war machine is "dealing in the anarchic environment internationally where different rules apply,” which "does require actions that in a normal business environment in the United States we would find unprofessional."

Bolton would certainly know. In his bloodthirsty push to manufacture consent for the Iraq invasion he spearheaded the removal of the director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a crucial institution for the enforcement of international law, using measures which included threatening the director-general's children. The OPCW is now subject to the dictates of the US government, as evidenced by the organisation's coverup of a 2018 false flag incident in Syria which resulted in airstrikes by the US, UK and France during Bolton's tenure as a senior Trump advisor.

The US continually works to subvert international law enforcement institutions to advance its own interests. When the US was seeking UN authorization for the Gulf War in 1991, Yemen dared to vote against it, after which a member of the US delegation told Yemen’s ambassador, “That’s the most expensive vote you ever cast.” Yemen lost not just 70 million dollars in US foreign aid but also a valuable labor contract with Saudi Arabia, and a million Yemeni immigrants were sent home by America’s Gulf state allies.

Simple observation of who is subject to international law enforcement and who is not makes it clear that the very concept of international law is now functionally nothing more than a narrative construct that's used to bludgeon and undermine governments who disobey the US-centralized empire. That's why in the lead-up to this confrontation with Russia we saw a push among empire managers to swap out the term "international law" with "rules-based international order", which can mean anything and is entirely up to the interpretation of the world's dominant power structure.

It is entirely possible that we may see Putin ousted and brought before a war crimes tribunal one day, but that won't make it valid. You can argue with logical consistency that Putin's invasion of Ukraine is wrong and will have disastrous consequences far beyond the bloodshed it has already inflicted, but what you can't do with any logical consistency whatsoever is claim that it is illegal. Because there is no authentically enforced framework for such a concept to apply.

As US law professor Dale Carpenter has said, "If citizens cannot trust that laws will be enforced in an evenhanded and honest fashion, they cannot be said to live under the rule of law. Instead, they live under the rule of men corrupted by the law.” This is all the more true of laws which would exist between nations.

You don't get to make international law meaningless and then claim that an invasion is "illegal". That's not a legitimate thing to do. As long as we are living in a Wild West environment created by a murderous globe-spanning empire which benefits from it, claims about the legality of foreign invasions are just empty sounds.

Listen:
https://soundcloud.com/going_rogue/international-law-is-a-meaningless-concept-when-it-only-applies-to-us-enemies

Over to our resident Anti-Putin/Russia war/world affairs analysts.

Pro American slave won't eat this night

This is the highlight of it all for me.

The laws are for Western Opposers.
This is why my sympathy for Ukraine keeps fluctuating.
There is Hyprocrisy written all over nato and it's allies. They see Russia as the kid they can bully, but that kid won't fall to shame without first teaching someone, anyone a lesson ( most like a nato wannabe or a nato alliancer intself).

Na Africa body den doe dey get power same Africa now can not stand against this Hyprocrisy and because of their dollars starched in the West

Truer words have never been said. Articles like this should be on the front page but unfortunately we live in a world of alternate reality where the lie is the truth and the truth made to look like the lie.

Pathetic.

None of this trash can be compared to Ukraine invasion

Hating America is ok if it makes you happy

But all this na rant

Nothing anyone can do about it.

America makes the world safer

I still keep on asking why is it that hate for America almost always come from the Muslims, and no Muslim condemn any terrorism attack, not even the one that is as bad as 9/11, all they see is Bush attacking their brother but never talk about what their brother did. Hypocrites.

Op don't mind brainwashed pro western asslickers on this forum. They barely have any grip on reality. If they did, they would've known that the USA is the biggest bully in the world. The same USA that brushes off ICC as irrelevant wants ICC to step a foot into russia in search of Putin that is bigger than their entire existence
The USA and even the entire west are too hypocritical for my liking. USA said they won't comply with ICC because they want immunity for their officials. They bombed Vietnam, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Serbia etc without any organizational body there to hold their criminal ex presidents accountable.
Like the article clearly stated, it is only poor zoo countries from Africa that are still bound by ICC. USA sanctioned all the ICC investigators who opened investigations on USA officials. It was Trump that later relieved some of their sanctions.. If ICC officials have mind, let them step a foot into russia. Let me see if they will return in one piece.

Mynd, Lalasticlacla. This article deserves front page abeg let people be enlightened

This article will give you a glimpse of how USA just bullies these idiots that only know how to do their job when it is the likes of Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo, Costa Rica etc that mistakenly commit war crimes
Meanwhile, USA will bomb cities for months these fools no go make pim because of fear of sanctions which would include seizures of their entire assets in USA and her lapdog countries.
Shaby ICC ordered putin to pull all Russian troops out of Ukraine? Putin just ignored them like I would to a complete fool. Let me see how their inconsequential asses will react

MangekyoAlt:
Op don't mind brainwashed pro western asslickers on this forum. They barely have any grip on reality. If they did, they would've known that the USA is the biggest bully in the world. The same USA that brushes off ICC as irrelevant wants ICC to step a foot into russia in search of Putin that is bigger than their entire existence

They practice selective amnesia and think everyone else do so also... The people hating Russia have never read about Russia's History to see how in each Century, Western Europe had always been the aggressor trying to conquer it and Russia being the victor for most part and thereby gaining the conquered territory.

They fail also to ask why NATO was created and in it was the Countries (Germany, France & Japan) who initiated the WWI & WWII. And also why they refused to accept Russia as a member if their intentions towards it is good.

NATO was created in 1949
Warsaw pact by Soviet Russia was by 1955 as a counter to NATO

sapientia:
None of this trash can be compared to Ukraine invasion

Hating America is ok if it makes you happy

But all this na rant

Nothing anyone can do about it.

America makes the world safer

The issue is, aren't they guilty too?

Truvelisback:
The issue is, aren't they guilty too?

I don't believe in committing crime because another did

Shebi Russia is a world power

Why not use he influence to get USA to answer for their crimes

That is where Putin has been outsmarted

USA never move alone even with all her powers

Putin didn't do his ground work very well

cloudseth:


They practice selective amnesia and think everyone else do so also... The people hating Russia have never read about Russia's History to see how in each Century, Western Europe had always been the aggressor trying to conquer it and Russia being the victor for most part and thereby gaining the conquered territory.

They fail also to ask why NATO was created and in it was the Countries (Germany, France & Japan) who initiated the WWI & WWII. And also why they refused to accept Russia as a member if their intentions towards it is good.

NATO was created in 1949
Warsaw pact by Soviet Russia was by 1955 as a counter to NATO

WWII was instigated by Hitler and Stalin but Hitler betrayed him after he conquered Poland

Countries that share border with Russia are running away from him towards west and you a Nigeria whose country don't have light even in peace time is blabbing what you don't know

Was it NATO that scattered Warsaw Pact or hunger?

Why didn't China join Warsaw pact?

Russia is an overated country with nuclear weapons

Well said. The foreign policy of the United States is the major cause of chaos globally. Personally, I think the UN should be scrapped if it can't hold the west accountable for things like this.

Moral lesson : The reasoning of the strongest always triumphs
Or the Unjust will not listen to the words of the innocent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYoTf7US7B8

sapientia:


I don't believe in committing crime because another did
Shebi Russia is a world power
Why not use he influence to get USA to answer for their crimes
That is where Putin has been outsmarted
USA never move alone even with all her powers
Putin didn't do his ground work very well

No one is saying crime is good. But when you state the hypocrisy of only your crime being the good crime, then what do you portray?

It's funny you'd say Russia should use it's influence to rein in USA when we all know that USA would rather wage war in all front. That's like telling me to use my influence to tell your family to punish/disown you when we all know your family would be biased towards you. The ICC/ICJ that is so much touted, how many times has US heeded to its ruling when it's against them?

Russia lost a vast part of its power after the desolation of Soviet Union and took up the debts of each members. While it was battling to repay off these debts & rebuild it's economy, these members sourced for greener pastures (ably championed by your friendly US trying to encircle Russia). Russia then was like a child that could be bullied and kicked while down, but now is a man that will take on his bully or die trying.

WWII was instigated by Hitler and Stalin but Hitler betrayed him after he conquered Poland

Stalin signed a none-aggression pact with Hitler. Stalin's invasion of Poland was to safeguard the lives of ethnic Ukrainians and Belarusians there. You see this being the same reason they went to Georgia and now Ukraine. When you threaten the existence of their citizens within your place with genocide, they have no option than to come to their aid. Same as US would go to war for their citizen. So if you're a neighbor and because of the desolation of the Soviet Union some Russians were displaced into you country and you feel to use their lives as sports, Russia would come to help repay the debt.

Countries that share border with Russia are running away from him towards west and you a Nigeria whose country don't have light even in peace time is blabbing what you don't know

You had to bring your inconsequential geographical location with no sense of identity into a discuss about nations... The reason your country doesn't have basic amenities is because it has no identity and true identity comes from being a nation comprising of one dominant ethnic (or closely related groups) that knows and implements their cultural visions & goals. Without that, you'd have a band-aid of warring jesters. Take it that each tribe (ethnic & closely related groups) are holding a rope to a cart (Nigeria) and drawing to opposing directions, the more evenly matched their strength, the more stagnant the cart and sooner the cart begins to rupture when stretched to its limit. That's why your country has been stagnant for years because no one is dominant enough to enforce their vision. The only option is to break up totally (and each tribe with related tribes become a country) or use the India style of tribal/language confederated states. These sort of band-aid was why Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia etc disbanded... Check almost all successful American, European, Asian and North African Countries, you'd find them being one country and one dominant tribe. So Africa (Mostly West, Central & South) needs to disband and reform itself according to tribe.

Was it NATO that scattered Warsaw Pact or hunger?
Why didn't China join Warsaw pact?
Russia is an overated country with nuclear weapons

Read about the fall there.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union
If NATO wasn't against Russia then why didn't they admit them during 1949-50 nor when Putin came asking twice as President?

China already a communist nation had a Sino-Russia treaty by 1950 so there was no need to. Although cause of rift Lenin in subsequent decades still contributed to that and coming from a bloody civil war, they wanted to rebuild and not entertain any war. But now that they've grown they are making demands from your beloved US, heard about how how Chinese J20 5th Gen and F35 5th Gen had a run recently and the F35 managed to fly home without crash while the J20 was unperturbed? That's them telling US to respect their territory.

Russia is overrated and yet, they've been the first to break barriers even under sanctions since 1950... Let's just let you be

sapientia:


I don't believe in committing crime because another did

Shebi Russia is a world power

Why not use he influence to get USA to answer for their crimes

That is where Putin has been outsmarted

USA never move alone even with all her powers

Putin didn't do his ground work very well



WWII was instigated by Hitler and Stalin but Hitler betrayed him after he conquered Poland

Countries that share border with Russia are running away from him towards west and you a Nigeria whose country don't have light even in peace time is blabbing what you don't know

Was it NATO that scattered Warsaw Pact or hunger?

Why didn't China join Warsaw pact?

Russia is an overated country with nuclear weapons

Note: This is a Political war btw the Russia and the U.S. A struggle for Power btw the Russia and U.S. Russia didn't just invade Ukraine for fun, he did so because he wants to stop or limit the Lordship of the U.S all over the world. He also delibrately invaded Ukraine with the aim that the U.S would be Provoked and engage him in a war.