Law

Grave Escalation in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict: from “Grain Diplomacy” to an All-Out War

Five Questions to Prof. Dr. Hans Köchler

Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Washington DC / Berlin

(10 October 2022) (Mark Donfried) This week President Vladimir Putin has made a public speech (in delay of one day) where he informed the world that Russia will now partially mobilize the reserve military forces and former soldiers to engage in the conflict in the Ukraine. At the same time, it was announced that a referendum would be made in several regions of the occupied Ukraine with the question if the citizens are asking to be annexed to the Russian Federation. With regards to that, President Vladimir Putin mentioned that the Russian Military Forces would protect Russian territory by all means available to them, implying that this would include also nuclear weapons. He added, it is not a bluff. The Former President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated this speech and repeated the threats. In regards to these serious developments, we would like to ask Prof. Dr. Hans Köchler* the following five questions:

Let’s Revive F.D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms and the Atlantic Charter

by Alfred de Zayas,* Geneva

(19 September 2022) The current US, UK, EU and NATO policies vis à vis Russia and China violate the letter and spirit of the UN Charter as well as many prior declarations and commitments and treaties which are at the basis of modern international law.

Prolonging War is a Crime against Peace – and Against Humanity

by Alfred de Zayas,* Geneva

(9 August 2022) The Nuremberg Trials and the Nuremberg Principles have not entirely lost their relevance. Notwithstanding the multiple violations of the Nuremberg norms by many countries since 1946, they are even more crucial today in the light of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which endanger the survival of all of humanity. The United Nations is called upon to develop preventative strategies and to ensure the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

Naked Power and Julian Assange

by William J. Astore,* USA

(20 June 2022) The worst crime you can commit, in the eyes of the powerful, is to embarrass them and to reveal their crimes. That is what Julian Assange did, most notably about U.S. war crimes in Iraq, and that is why he is being hounded and punished.

Double-Standards at the UN Human Rights Council

by Alfred de Zayas,* Geneva

(11 June 2022) It is no secret that the UN Human Rights Council essentially serves the interests of the Western developed countries and does not have a holistic approach to all human rights. Blackmail and bullying are common practices, and the US has proven that it has sufficient “soft power” to cajole weaker countries.

Why Russia's intervention in Ukraine is legal under international law

by Daniel Kovalik,* USA

(30 May 2022) In the case of Russia's military intervention in its neighbouring country, the argument can be made that Moscow exercised its right to self-defence – because the conflict with Ukraine did not just break out on 24 February this year.