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Tag: war crimes

THERE’S NO MAYBE IN MORALITY

THERE’S NO MAYBE IN MORALITY

Dur­ing the siege of Sara­je­vo, the Dan­ish army NCOs who con­trolled UN relief flights had a sign behind their check-in desk that  read: “Do not con­fuse your rank with our author­i­ty”. For politi­cians rant­i­ng against the Inter­na­tion­al Crim­i­nal Court (ICC)  arrest war­rants for the Gaza con­flict, I sug­gest one that says: “Do not con­fuse your self-image with the moral high ground.Read the rest

GAZA: ALL WAR CRIMES ARE EQUAL

GAZA: ALL WAR CRIMES ARE EQUAL

Respond­ing to a war crime by com­mit­ting one doesn’t bring jus­tice, it cre­ates equals. Aid­ing, abet­ting or con­don­ing one side mere­ly adds anoth­er guilty par­ty. All but the most ardent­ly naïve know that Israel’s vengeance on Gaza will be fero­cious. Unless those with the pow­er to make changes start think­ing about the after­math now, it will also be pointless.Read the rest

The Once Great, Replaced

The Once Great, Replaced

Some years ago, a cam­era­man gave me one of the tee shirts he’d sold as a side­line at a Repub­li­can con­ven­tion. The front read “Life in News”. On the back, in large type, was print­ed “BLAME IT ON THE MEDIA.” Del­e­gates, he told me, didn’t get the joke. Today, it’s in dan­ger of becom­ing less a joke than a jus­ti­fi­able truism.Read the rest

The Punishment Putin Can’t Escape

The Punishment Putin Can’t Escape

The chances of self-imaged macho man Vladimir Putin end­ing up in court for war crimes in Ukraine are slim to nil. He has, how­ev­er, already been judged impo­tent by the one thing his mas­sive fire­pow­er could not overcome…the per­verse tru­ism that the worst of human beings invari­ably bring out the best of them.Read the rest