Goodbye to International Law

[marmar]

from Consortium News:



Goodbye to International Law
September 22, 2011

Though the World War II victors promised that the Nuremberg principles would apply not just to the Nazis but to everyone, today’s reality is that international law follows two standards: a lenient one for the West and its friends and a stringent variant for adversaries. This hypocrisy is now being institutionalized, Lawrence Davidson notes.

By Lawrence Davidson


Back in February, I wrote an analysis on the subject of Universal Jurisdiction, which began:

“One of the really progressive acts that followed the end of World War II was the establishment of the principle of universal jurisdiction (UJ). UJ is a legal process that allows states that are signatories to various international treaties and conventions (such as the Geneva conventions) to prosecute alleged violators of these treaties, even when these violations are committed outside the country’s borders.

“This is particularly so if it can be demonstrated that the home government of the accused has no intention of bringing them to trial for the alleged offense. The assumption behind this principle is that the crime committed is so egregious as to be seen as a crime against humanity at large.

“In the wake of the Nazi Holocaust and other such crimes against humanity, UJ was accepted as a necessary and positive legal step by almost all Western nations.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2011/09/22/goodbye-to-international-law/

[elleng]

1. Maybe. But . . . .

The War Crimes Investigator

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/features/the-war-crimes-investigator/

[provis99]

2. Nuremberg was all about victor's justice, too.

No American, British, French, or Russian general was ever convicted, or even brought to trial, for waging aggressive war, or executing prisoners, or suppressing civil rights, or killing civilians, or anything else. Even the Soviet Judge at Nuremberg bragged it was all about getting even with their defeated enemies; justice was irrelevant.

[Recursion]

3. What aggressive war did America, the UK, and France wage in that time period? (nt)

[BlueMTexpat]

4. Hiroshima and Nagasaki spring to mind.

Dropping atomic bombs on major population areas that by definition included hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of civilians could be considered quite aggressive.

[Recursion]

5. Nope

Aggressive war has a specific meaning, a war you started. And Hiroshima and Nagasaki together killed fewer people than the firebombing of Dresden did, or (more importantly) an invasion of the mainland would have. Truman never saved more lives than when he dropped those bombs.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. You may be splitting hairs about "aggressive war"

in limiting your focus to a first act of aggression. See, e.g., http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/GAres3314.html

The firebombing of Dresden is just another example. I am not arguing that Truman's decision was not justified, considering the circumstances and the state of knowledge at the time, even though IMO, we would have been very loath to use the atomic bomb on Caucasians. It is also not only the death toll, but the long-term consequences and aftereffects of radiation that distinguish the use of the A-bomb in Japan from the firebombing at Dresden.

Had the Allies lost WWII, it is quite likely that Allied leaders and anyone associated with carrying out their orders would have been labelled "war criminals," whether in trials like those at Nuremberg or via summary executions (my guess is the latter, given the behavior of Nazi authorities generally) and it would have been the Nazis who would have skated.

It's a winner's world, I'm afraid, which is why I detest ALL war. War is a lose-lose situation for morality.

[provis99]

8. America and Britain attacked Vichy France.

Britain also attacked and conquered Iraq and Iran. The UK had an invasion force all ready to attack Norway, to cut off Germany's iron imports; they simply got beat by a week by the Germans. America conquered and occupied Iceland against international law. Britain attacked and annexed independent Egypt. America occupied Liberia illegally.

I notice you competely left off the Russians, who attacked Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Romania, Poland, Japan, Iran, Lithuania, and fought a border war with Turkey

Shall I go on?

[xchrom]

6. we're no longer a nation of laws here at home. a sad recommend. nt