Illustrative Image
Written by Dr. Binoy Kampmark
In a good number of Western states, the ruling classes, former and current, have lost their heads. Bugbear and boogieman Vladimir Putin’s efforts in Ukraine have lent themselves to some rather extreme suggestions, ranging from assassination to potential war crimes trials. This is not to say that the Russian leader has nothing to account for. As ever, it all depends on who is making the accusation, and who is seeking retribution.
Trying leaders for war crimes does not lack merit, even if law remains, at best, a blunt instrument all too readily concealing a vengeful motive. Butchers should never escape under the comfortable veil of state responsibility, claiming sovereignty as an all-dispensing reason to commit atrocities. But any war crimes procedures are riddled with claims of bias, partisanship and self-interest.
Many voices from the noisy tribes of accountability are calling for Putin to face legal proceedings as soon as possible. Former UK Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Sir John Major have added their names to a petition calling for a Nuremberg-styled model similar to that used in 1945 by the victorious Allies against Nazi Germany.
Paving is being added to the proposition with remarks by US President Joe Biden that the Russian president is a war criminal. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed. “Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.” A unanimous resolution by the US Senate has also condemned the Russian leader for “alleged war crimes”.
The International Criminal Court is already seized of the matter. But on the issue of the crime of aggression, otherwise known as the crime against peace in the charter of the International Military Tribunal, the ICC would need a referral from the UN Security Council, something that Russia will most likely veto.
The choristers for a war crimes tribunal seem an odd bunch. Some are individuals who themselves have committed, or approved of, acts of war that would qualify them for that very same process they now demand. Gordon Brown may not have liked being a part of the unlawful attack on Iraq in 2003, but as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was the man overlooking the purse strings of Britain’s war effort. The masterminds of that crime of aggression in Mesopotamia – US President George W. Bush, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Australia’s John Howard – were far from Brown’s mind as he told BBC Radio 4’s program that a “message” had to be “sent out” that such aggression would be judicially punished.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Brown attempted a sketch for the prosecution. Putin was the “ringleader” of murderous efforts against opponents in the UK. He invaded Georgia in 2008; annexed Crimea in 2014 and naughtily supported the Assad regime in Syria. But the Ukraine War stood out. “Aggression is Putin’s original crime: the planning, initiation and pursuit of a policy to declare and prosecute an invasion of Ukraine.” At Nuremberg, Nazi war criminals were held to account. “Eight decades on, we must ensure there will be a day of reckoning for Putin.”
Had these people consulted their history on this troubled subject, they would be aware that the tyrant-in-the-dock motif is a precarious one. The original suggestion of a tribunal to try leaders for war crimes, specifically Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, was opposed by President Woodrow Wilson for one fundamental reason: US presidents might find themselves facing a prosecutor’s brief at some point in the future. The motive was selfish but at least showed an awareness that such a course of action risked having a boomerang effect.
The issue did not go away during the Second World War. As discussions about a proposed war crimes process at war’s end began to take place, George Orwell penned a characteristically devastating and clear-eyed piece on its weaknesses in an October 1943 issue of the Tribune. In reviewing a work advocating Benito Mussolini’s trial, Orwell was firm. “In power politics there are no crimes, because there are no laws.”
Even if so, who could actually sit in judgment of him? True, the list of atrocities, brutalities and broken treaties were undeniable, the cruelty even admitted. “The only troublesome question is: How can something that was praiseworthy at the time you did it – ten years ago, say – suddenly become reprehensible now?”
Were Mussolini to call witnesses at his trial, he would find many on the side of the Allies impressed and even supportive of his various ghastly deeds. Lord Rothermere, for instance, in 1928, called the Italian leader “the antidote to a deadly poison.” Lord Mottistone in 1935 on the barbarous Italian action in Abyssinia was all approving: “I wanted to dispel the ridiculous notion that it was a nice thing to sympathise with the underdog.” It was the Abyssinians, “cruel” and “brutal” who were facing “others who are playing an honourable part.” The gassed natives got what they deserved.
In the witness box, Orwell declares, any number of individuals would be able to testify that Mussolini’s actions, from stomping on the Italian trade unions to using mustard gas on the Abyssinians and even building a navy against Britain, had the support of the British government “through thick and thin.”
At Nuremberg, the grounds for an indivisible international morality for leaders was proposed. Critics smelt a legally attired rat: What would this mean for the future of state craft and power politics? The righteous US Supreme Court justice and prosecutor at Nuremberg, Robert H. Jackson, with an almost puritan certitude, stated the case for the prosecution. All, including state leaders, would be equal in the dock as personally responsible for war crimes. “The principle of personal liability is a necessary as well as logical one if international law is to render real help to the maintenance of peace.”
It is a view that has proven itself to be manifestly untrue in practice. Justice and accountability are divisible. Power politics continues to supply room for criminal conduct and excuse viciousness. Individuals such as former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, his blood spattered finger prints criss-crossing continents, hold sway with their view that international tribunals are unaccountable bodies dolling out unjust rulings against noble leaders. President Donald Trump, in this true Kissingerian spirit, went so far as to directly sanction members of the ICC for daring to investigate potential US war crimes in Afghanistan.
Since 1945, the leaders tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity, be they in the international criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, or the International Criminal Court, have tended to come from a broken and defeated side. In some case, the defeated, such as the UK and United States, have simply gone home to forget or justify their unlawful adventurism. Bush decided to take up painting. Blair decided to become a global consultant to dubious regimes. They only meant well. The Ukraine War promises to be no different for those in the Kremlin.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com
Every soldier who says “I just followed orders!” Should be put on trial. Especially the leaders who gave the orders.
But that’s never going to happen, as soldiers from all wars just followed orders. That’s the reality.
I bet you weren’t that vocal when the US and UK genocided the middle east.
You mean George double booh his Kuwaiti nurse? Or Tomb BLairs false nuclear document from Africa?
The same nonsense than what two comedians from Russia now showed, that Putins Ukrainian nuclear program claim is nonsense too. 🤷
They are all the same and you are defending such people time and time again.
nazi cretin lies dissimulates like all amerikant morons—despicable immoral nazi!
Russians capturing Kiev Nazis dressed as women and trying to escape from Mariupol.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1506586476854710277
Lol, a single person, big deal. 🤷🤭
Hmm,
Then there are the presidents of the 19 NATO countries that bombed SR Yugoslavia for 3 months?? Then what about Vietnam 3 million people has been killed by US. What about Iraq, Syria , Afghanistan, Libya …??
What about genocide in Ruanda ?
Western countries would judge others , but they raised themselves above Good. You are very funny and scared , you can attack only a small country , create mess, steal resources and escapes..
All war crimes Mark. But just a question. Only because someone else is a war criminal, are you allowed to become a war criminal yourself?
Nope. And everyone should be held accountable for their actions, but let’s organize that Nuremberg model of trial and judge everyone who is responsible – but in chronological order. Let’s start with the Korean War, the Vietnam War, all the next wars … And when we satisfy justice for all those wars, it will be the turn of this war in Ukraine! Can we do that? Why should we judge Putin right now, there are many of them standing in front …
Middle Easterns unfortunatly are more then ever.
Genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. These acts fall into five categories:
Killing members of the group Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
There are a number of other serious, violent crimes that do not fall under the specific definition of genocide. They include crimes against humanity, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and mass killing.
source ref is the genoside museum in USA.
You mean the Jewish museum in US – an archive of lies and deceptions?
When Israel is prosecuted for its genocide of Palestinians, and the Empire prosecuted for its long history of war crimes, it might become something worth considering. In the meantime, it’s just more aggression from the Empire punishing its victims.
We understand that you paid trolls spend the whole day spewing anti-Russian nonsense at all sites, but realistically speaking the only war criminals are the IDF child killers and NATO Nazis who have killed millions around the world. The US criminals in Iraq and Afghanistan alone killed over 2 million civilians. Bush, Blair, Obama and every NATO lapdog would have hung if there was real justice. President Putin is defending Russian soil, so under international law, he is a HERO. JAI RUS!
how does that help you when you burn because we will make sure you burn you hypocrite fools
Hello. all the House of Windsor parasites besides being pedos are also war criminals and need to face a new real Nuremberg.
UN acknowledges massive Ukrainian war crimes against civilians and Russians.
Ukraine Could Be Charged With Human Rights Violations for Videos of POWs and torture
You got links for both claims? 😂😉
If one is foolish enough to put on someone else’s uniform and fight to save the reputations and the wealth of the ruling liar class, they can be shot by their own men for refusing orders. Best not to put on a uniform.
V. Putin should be given the nobel peace prize for saving us from ww3.
NATO is not NATO anymore, it is NUTZO
NATO is NORTH AMERICAN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.
ISIS = Israel Secret Intelliget Service
Indeed, President Putin is fighting the most noble defensive war in the post WW2 era. Ukraine is Russian land and the Anglo-Zionist warmongers and the demented American eunuchs were encroaching on Russian lands and had been killing ethnic Russians and minorities in Don Bas since 2014. The real war criminals are Zionists and NATO Nazi disgusting liars.
Very well said.
There must be a Nuremberg Tribunal persecuting every government in Europe today, as well as Russia’s.
But not the USA? Interesting. The crumbling americant empire killed more people than EU+Russia+China combined.
The Nuremberg Trials were a farce, these will not have to be a farce. Whereas my side has the truth on its side, our enemies are full of nothing but criminality and deceit.
Nuremberg was a Jew theater of the absurd.
nazi polo mologrunting hans only has CIA on her side
Catch me if you can 😉
Menjamo J.Janso in njegovo stranko za Vladimirja.
I would think that NATO and Zelenskyy should be the ones charged with these crimes for their Arming and Training the AZOV Batallion which has resulted in over 14,000 deaths in Donbass. Why would Putin be charged with anything for stopping this? Normal war casualties result in about a 1 to 1 ratio of Troops to Civilians. This invasion in Ukraine has so far caused a 10 to 1 ratio of Troops to Civilians. That is remarkable. Putin is doing what he set out to do – De-Militarize and De- Nazify Ukraine.
I want such a trial for myself too. I want to be famous. Your most honest, most patriotic most famous most excellent most humble, most handsome president ever 😈💯🍷
A kdaj pomisliš na svoje ljudi, ki umirajo zaradi tvoje napačne politike. A zdaj pa bi bil nevtralen. En mesec pa prej pa ne. Napačna politika pri
Yes…and you can dance too!!
If there had been such a trial for Bush Sr and Jr, Clintons and Obama we wouldn’t be here today but would enjoy peace.
Don’t forget Tony Blair, the UK prime minister who took the UK to war in 2003 Iraq. He is well worth locking up for a 1000 years, :)
Fuck the lockup…give them all what they gave Saddam…only in public. You know in all those apocalypse movies where they show corpses left hanging and nothing left but tattered remains of skeletons to show what happens to trespassers? It is amazing these A-holes even contemplating such non-sense. Don’t they know the winner writes the history? In ten years from now, what will the narrative be? Do they think they can take on Russia and China? They are grasping at straws to make themselves look good, FAIL. It only shows how stupid they’ve become in their desperation.
Maybe he’s right. Putin the terrorist cockroach would spare everybody a great deal of trouble by putting a gun to his mouth.
I WOULD ADVOCATE for Nuremberg trials for all Jewish Israhelli PM’s first
The Anglo-Zionist liars are the worst scum on the planet. Bush, Blair, Nutter Yahoo, Bennett, their pet monkey Obama all need to be hung.
If Putin goes on trial for war crimes hahaha then every single American politician should be on the stand also, but according to the West they’re never wrong even after being directly responsible for almost every war imaginable and displacing and killing hundreds of thousands of not millions. Example Bush Jr. Walking around freely and made jokes about Iraqi invasion, which then paved the way for ISIS.
But no American politician will stand trial and neither will Putin. Western leaders are cowards who just play copy cat, I say this you say that.
Let’s not forget Zelensky who ordered the murder of dissident Ukrainians as “Russian sympathizers”.
Let’s not forget Putin the invader, who orders to bomb brothers and sisters who don’t obey his demands.
My little imposter admits his defeat again. 🤷🤭
Te elenfant in the room, Zelensky, has ordered the illegal “elimination” of dissident Ukrainians as “Russian sympathizers”. Without trial etc.
Oh, my little imposter again, sweet to see how you have to admit defeat again. 🤷🤭
Yeah, right after: George H.W. Bush Bill Clinton Madeleine Albright George W. Bush Dick Cheney Tony Blair Gordon Brown Jack Straw Barack Hussein Soetero John Kerry Killary Klinton Tronald Dump Mike “we lied, cheated, stole” Pompeo Mark Milley & Co.
Don’t forget mad man Zelensky who armed fascist Azov battalion, put children and retirees into arms removing their civilian status, used human shields, murdered Ukrainians who didn’t want to participate in his total war as “Russia sympathizers” or “saboteurs”, without trial proceedings – many private scores were settled on innocent.
And no tribunal for known butchers such as Clinton, Bush and Obama. Is it because African and Arabs lives are worthless?
Every US president since WWII is a war criminal and mass murderer
Matt
This murderous genocidal maniac needs to be put on trial for war crimes
Got a picture of the perpetrator in Kyiv, riding an Azov maggot pig: https://hotpotmedia.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/zNbEj3MXzyT0w1o7G7tYeVD9W50L.png
So helpless that you have to pretend being me? Poor propaganda victim of the Vlad. 🤷🤭
Now SouthFront knows why I will never post to it’s site again. Hypocrites!
Another anglo-saxon fascist-capitalist feudalist paedophilic and GENOCIDAL perversity ! Nothing new under the sun ! The anglo-khazarians MUST FACE TOTAL DELETION as this 2 SCUM perverse\pervert races CANNOT LIVE WITH US under the same Sun, their history is nothing but a big piles of criminal\genocidal record !
This whole new Nuremberg tribunals is a ruse and cover-up for what had been asked for by many in the anti-vax movement such as myself. It was intended for all the crooked politicians and medical mafia agents working for Pfizer and Moderna mostly. They need to divert attention from all the people dying on account of the Death Vaxxes, that’s all!! Shit, even Rafael Nadal is complaining about chest and breathing pains now and the amount of young athletes dropping dead and coming down with health ailments keeps growing and growing exponentially.
I said a long time ago Russia should indict the Nato leadership responible for destroying Yugoslavia including Wesley Clark,also Bill Clinton and Blair,they should indict Bush and Biden,lets have that as a starting point,and as far as i know the U.S. didn’t sign up to the ICC and Russia didn’t or Ukraine,so as usual the Reich changes the rules when it likes,the Americans one threatened any official who went to America to investigate their war crimes would be arrested,thats what we are dealing with,utter scum.
Is that the same gordon brown who flogged off Britain’s gold to save a US bank? Is this the same gordon brown who drove the price of gold down before flogging it off? Take the word of this genius with a pinch of salt.
Is that the same john major who was lying to parliament and the people over an affair with a fellow MP? Why does it matter? Because a PM who is comfortable with lying for a living won’t stop at hiding affairs or the corruption in gov’t. So, here we are. Looking at john major’s squeeze at the time, it’s no wonder he wanted to keep it quiet.
When the world regains its sanity, there will be so many western shysters for a revamped ICC to chose from. Many of those are mentioned in this piece. President Putin won’t be on that list.
Putins tribunal upon Humans existing in Ukraine, is no better than zionists trying Putin.
Live by the tribunal, Die by the tribunal.
Eye for an Eye.
Prosecution by intention of action.
Self correcting algorithm.
Only Friends of Al-Yamani can prosper.
As China’s President Xi said “Let the one who tied the bell to the tiger, take it off”
I want to see the Russians liberate us in the West from the tyranny of our Ruling Class Elites. The same Ruling Class Elites who are waging war on Russia via Ukraine. I want to see the Elites Leer Jets smashing into the Alps. I want to see their super yachts blowing up in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. I want to see Russian black ops terrorize our Ruling Class Elites.