War Itself Is the Crime

W.J. Astore

Yesterday, I was asked to comment on alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine, and why Russia should be “rightly charged” for them. This is what I wrote in response:

War itself is the crime, unless it’s a defensive war of necessity. Even then, all wars generate atrocity.

I really don’t know if Russia should be “rightly charged” with war crimes.  They are “alleged” and not proven.  And the U.S. doesn’t recognize the ICC (International Criminal Court at The Hague); we are an “observer” but not a member.  So the U.S. can’t formally charge Russia with war crimes since our government doesn’t recognize the court that tries such crimes, as I understand it.

I’ve read about alleged war crimes in Ukraine. They should be investigated. But that investigation will take time, especially if you’re looking for an informed, impartial, one, based on sound evidence. In the meantime, I’d caution against a rush to judgment.

President Biden, of course, has already called Vladimir Putin a war criminal. But if Putin is a war criminal who warrants a trial before the ICC, we must admit that American leaders like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden also warrant trials before the ICC for their roles in facilitating wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as regime change actions in Libya and Syria, among other exercises in imperialism. Consider all the drone strikes executed while Obama/Biden were in power, and all the innocent civilians who were killed, as Daniel Hale (among others) told us, for which he was sent to prison for four years.

In America, war criminals walk free; courageous whistle blowers like Hale are imprisoned.

And we’re going to lecture the world on who’s a war criminal?

Daniel Hale blew the whistle on murderous U.S. drone strikes. For his act of conscience, the U.S. imprisoned him for four years

47 thoughts on “War Itself Is the Crime”

  1. Just received this in my email:
    BREAKING NEWS ALERT
    The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and said it was toughening penalties against Russian banks in retaliation for “war crimes” in Ukraine.

    The moves against Sberbank and Alfa Bank prohibit assets from touching the US financial system and bar Americans from doing business with those institutions.

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    1. What a circus! Of course, the world is more unstable. Of course, we must move more troops into Eastern Europe. Of course, we should do more for the military.

      “Ask not what your military can do for you, but ask what you can do for your military.” Isn’t that what JFK said? 🙂

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    2. Speaking of JFK and Generals– JFK had Gen. Curtis LeMay, Supreme Commander of SAC, and if he’d listened to him, and his other Generals back in the day we might still be glowing from an obliterating Nuclear Attack! I would really have had something to worry about under my 3rd. Grade Desk @ Lincoln School. In closing wasn’t it French Statesman who said: ” War is far too important to be left to the generals.”

      Liked by 1 person

    1. thank you for this noam chomsky cynosureship alert, dennis. his guidance is testament to hedges’ axiom that “the good attracts to itself the good”…of whom you are one of the contributors thereof.

      Liked by 2 people

  4. The United Nations gives the following definition:

    1. Intentional murder of innocent people;
    2. Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
    3. Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
    4. Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the
    forces of hostile power;
    5. Use by children under the age of sixteen years into armed forces or
    groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities;
    6. Intentionally directing attack against the civilian population as not
    taking direct part in hostilities;
    7. Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by
    military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
    8. Destroying or seizing the property of an adversary unless demanded
    by necessities of the conflict;
    9. Using poison or poisoned weapons;
    10. Intentionally directing attack against building dedicated to religion,
    education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments,
    hospitals as long as it’s not used as military infrastructure;
    11. Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the
    rights of fair and regular trial;
    12. Attacking or bombarding towns, villages, dwellings or buildings
    which are undefended and which are not military infrastructure;
    13. Unlawful deportation, transfer, or unlawful confinement;
    14. Taking of hostages.
    15. Intentional assault with the knowledge that such an assault would
    result in loss of life or casualty to civilians or damage to civilian
    objects or extensive, long-term and severe damage to the natural
    environment that would be clearly excessive in relation to the
    concrete and direct.

    Some of these seem naive such as 3. War is all about ‘Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health’. Others such as 7 and 8 are open to interpretation.
    War crimes like pornography are such that you know it when you see it. I do not want to get into the verification of war crimes because that is a really tough nut to crack, given that the ‘crime scene’ is not like a civilian crime scene where an impartial detective force is at the scene and can cordon it off.

    I ask the question: Why do war crimes occur and how can they be prevented?
    That gets into who commits these crimes? One first has to identify the perpetrator. As WJA pointed out, some of these are people at the highest levels of government and the military. We usually think the perpetrators are the individual soldier or group of them such as the platoon of lieutenant Calley at My Lai. It seems that the blame has to go much higher than that. Yes, he was the director of the massacre, but his commanding officer is to blame and on up the chain. A whole structure of criminality seems to create war crimes. Yes, the very act of war is a crime and the individual soldier can get confused as where the line is between necessary killing and un-necessary. This to me is inevitable and demands that the commanding officers be the ones to reign in over aggressiveness. That means the ultimate commanding officer, the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States must set the example.

    Is there any teaching of war crimes in officer’s school? Is there any mention of ethical behavior as troops are going into battle? Is it repeated so the troops know the officers are serious about ethical behavior? Is there any way to weed out the bad eggs that are encouraging war crimes? Many other questions which I will leave to the readers. I hope our military is listening and is committed to preventing war crimes.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. The most recent version of the Manual for Courts-Martial lists the following offenses that can be prosecuted under Article 134……..non-war crimes I guess!
        Drunkenness, gambling, indecent language and extramarital sex…………..OK! LOL

        Animal abuse
        Bigamy
        Check, worthless making and uttering – by dishonorably failing to maintain funds
        Child pornography
        Dishonorably failing to pay debt
        disloyal statement
        Disorderly conduct, drunkenness
        Extramarital sexual conduct
        Discharging firearm through negligence
        Fraternization
        Gambling with subordinate
        Negligent homicide
        Indecent conduct
        Indecent language
        Pandering and prostitution
        Self-injury without intent to avoid service
        Straggling
        Visual depiction, nonconsensual distribution or broadcast

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        1. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

          Do good to those who persecute you.

          Christ is very demanding, isn’t He? And He demands mercy.

          Liked by 1 person

          2. And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
            And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
            And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
            And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, will you that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

            But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, You know not what manner of spirit you are of.
            For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Once again, The Bible as history is bunk. This is how things work in the real world when God is invoked at such times:
              During the Albigensian Crusade, when the city of Beziers was breached, the question was raised regarding the fate of the city’s religious. ThePapal Legate to the Crusaders, Arnaud-Amaury, the Abbot of Citeaux, replied, “Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet,” which is “Kill them all. God will know his own.” Which is exactly what happened. As with the sack of Jerusalem in 1099 (where God’s Grace was also invoked), contemporary chroniclers described the streets as “ankle-deep” in blood.
              The actions were decreed by men, but in God’s name. Did God take those days off? Did he not hear thousands of voices calling for mercy? I’m sure he heard them, but such “thoughts and prayers” are telling God a mistake’s been made. Good luck with that. God is always on the side of the victors.

              Liked by 1 person

              1. God gives ALL Humans Free Will and Free Choice. Humans love to take God’s name in vain.
                God has let Humans go their own way until the Days of Judgment now coming into View, when all of Humanity will reap what it has sown for the works of Good or Evil over the Centuries.

                The Resurrected Christ sees not much has changed since Jesus is recorded in the Book of Books,
                You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
                This people draws close to me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
                But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

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              2. Some believers are fond of quoting the Bible to assert or “prove” a point. To a non-believer, reference to the Bible or some other holy work of faith means nothing.

                The Bible itself is a complex and contradictory work; passages can be found and cited, rightly or wrongly, to support almost anything. For Christians, the New Testament largely superseded the Old; the focus is much more on love and redemption rather than wrath and obedience.

                Religion, like war, is a force that gives (some of) us meaning. Even though religion is supposed to be decoupled from war, they often are linked in an unholy alliance, as history shows.

                In this forum, Biblical citations and prophesy isn’t persuasive, let alone convincing. I’d use them sparingly, if at all.

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              3. If you noticed Bill, I cite them only when someone provides a segue as you and Dennis did upstream. Naturally I’m free to respond to anyone challenging my Faith.

                In the discussion of the Massacre at Bucha blamed on Russia without any proof, The Washington Post deleted these comments in the discussion this morning because it goes against the prescribed US Ukrainian War narrative. No room for dissent in US media as Russia is demonized for eliminating dissent from their Media.

                Twitter suspended the account of Scott Ritter because he Tweeted this,
                “The Ukrainian National Police committed numerous crimes against Humanity in Bucha. Biden, in seeking to shift blame for the Bucha murders onto Russia, is guilty of aiding and abetting those crimes. Congratulations America…we’ve created yet another Presidential war criminal!” The specific Twitter rule justifying the suspension is “You may not engage in the target harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. This includes wishing or hoping that someone experiences physical harm”
                That “Rule” is exempted when Putin is the target.

                In the Timeline that can’t be changed, the Russians pulled out of Bucha on March 31.
                From 1 media report, “The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, confirmed that the Ukrainian military had expelled the Russian occupiers from the city. The liberation of the village began yesterday, March 31. He noted that “this day will enter the glorious history of Bucha and the entire Bucha community.”

                There was no mention of bodies littering the streets on that Glorious Day. None of those bodies could be the result of the Ukrainian Military expelling the Russian occupiers in a WAR.
                The bodies appeared days later after the National Police arrived. If they were left on the streets on the day the Russians left, the Mayor would have noticed and said something about them on that Glorious Day, but he didn’t. There would have been signs of decay on the bodies when the alleged Russian massacre went viral Days later and there wasn’t.

                Americans don’t need proof or evidence. They’ve been brainwashed and indoctrinated to believe Russia always lies, is 100% Evil, while the US always tells the Truth and is 100% Good. So delusional in American thinking!

                and this comment among others,

                Truth is the 1st casualty of War, especially in this one.
                After introducing Nukes into the World, the US was the only Nation to use them, needing only 2 to kill over 200,000 innocent civilians, and since WWII, the US, with the most expensive Military Force in the History of Nations, invaded and bombed only poor, 3rd World Nations resulting in the Death of MILLIONS, and couldn’t get a win in any of them, the hurried, frantic evacuation of Kabel being only the latest example.
                On the way out, the latest violent War Crime we know about is the slaughter of an innocent civilian Family of 10 including 7 children by a remote controlled drone. No American is held accountable.
                The American Oligarchs must be rubbing their hands in glee with the increased Weapons sales because of the US Tug of War with Russia over Ukraine, Biden says is the cause of US inflation.

                The US is the biggest ARMS MERCHANT in the History of Nations, and the American People mirror that love of Weapons having more of them in private hands than any other Society on Earth.

                Americans can expect a long hot murderous Summer of American Carnage on the streets, when the Economic straitjacket tightens here, as the US/NATO wages Economic War to tighten the Economic straitjacket on the People of Russia.

                It is strange to see replies to my deleted comments still there as I was vilified for being a Russian troll taking it metaphorically into Daniel’s Lion’s Den.

                To your credit Bill, you don’t delete comments you don’t like.

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              4. My honest answer to Bucha is: How the F*ck would I know who committed these war crimes? Russia? Ukraine? Both? I’m not going to believe Russia or Ukraine or the USA. You need an investigation by an impartial organization.

                Doubtless we’ll see more accusations and more examples of waving the bloody shirt. It sure riles people up.

                Liked by 2 people

                1. Not likely there will be an impartial investigation any time soon, but the Truth will come out eventually if we don’t blow ourselves up before there are no more Historians.

                  It could very well “come as a thief in the night’ and you probably know where those words come from?

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    2. not when the grub-ranks w/in the US military machine are drawn from the depauperate, marginalized, and minimally educated segments of US society, sir scott, who have likely sourced from abusive homes, substandard ethical behavioural modalities, or nugatory economical backgrounds, for whom the military option is their putative pathway to success.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. If, as You say Colonel, that “War Itself Is The Crime,” then how about a little Root Cause Analysis?

    What is the actual Root Cause of War? Any and All War, going back to the beginning of Human History?

    Why is there War? And is there any alternative to it that has ever worked for any length of time anyplace on this Planet? Or is War just what Humans do, have always done, and will continue to do?

    One possible direction of inquiry is as follows: Could there be War without Governments and their Propagandizing Media [be they Prophets and their Preachers, or Patriots and the Pundits] to make them happen?

    Another possible direction of inquiry: Could there be War without the Citizens of the Warring Nations consenting to pay their individual and collective portion of the cost in Blood and Treasure that their Governments need, demand, and take in order to wage those Wars?

    And finally: Could and would there be War if Nobody could make any Money from it, and the cost of it to a Nation could not be put on its Credit Card, but had to be paid for, day-to-day, right now?

    And Thank You for citing Daniel Hale. You could also mention Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning in the same category as Mr Hale. Their crimes were daring to let the American people get even just a sliver-view of what America was doing in its so-called “Global” so-called “War” so-called “Terrorism.”

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    1. edward snowden, as well, for years confined to the protective apparatus of russia, proscribed from returning to his homeland in the US… perhaps permanently. the trope of ‘american democracy to be ubiquitously spread around the planet’ is so laughable it gives my heaving belly indigestion..

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    2. Exalting the nation (nationalism) is a root cause. So too is profit.

      Smedley Butler put it well when he said war is a racket. And there are laws against racketeering.

      We need to move away from America as the “exceptional” nation with a self-defined global, quasi-religious mission to spread the U.S. “gospel” and return to an America that avoids entangling alliances and that rejects war and permanent standing militaries as corrosive to democracy. Of course, there is a huge and powerful bureaucracy in place to resist this, powered by a propaganda machine that’s increasingly dominant and insidious.

      No one said it would be easy, right? The empire and the Dark Side will not go quietly …

      Liked by 3 people

      1. When You say we need to “return to an America that avoids entangling alliances and that rejects war and permanent standing militaries as corrosive to democracy,” Colonel, to which time period in American History do You refer?

        As near as i can figure, the last time America avoided entangling alliances was before America’s neo-imperialist expansion into the Pacific with the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion.

        And the last time there was a general American rejection of war and permanent standing armies was before The Great Depression. And we all know how that ended up.

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        1. Yes, that’s what I’m saying. We need to abandon imperialism and downsize our military, returning to an America that’s all-but-forgotten, an America that practices democracy and cultivates its own garden.

          Yes, I know I’m dreaming.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. “All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds Awake to find that it was vanity; But the dreamers of day are dangerous men. That they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible.” ~ T. E. Lawrence [of Arabia] :

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    3. Excellent question J G Moebus. In my opinion the causes are:
      Disrespect for the other. This is due to ego which declares itself the most important thing in the world. This can be a mass ego as in a nation.
      The ego is capable of the most acrobatic mental contortions ( lies ) to justify its violent actions.

      Ego untamed and unrestrained is the cause of war. The ego is part of being human so it is up to us to be its masters and not its servants.
      The deeper part of this is where it gets difficult. How does one master one’s ego? There are different answers from different belief systems. Maybe all are right and are needed because different people need different disciplines.

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      1. I can’t argue that “ego” ~ whatever that is ~ isn’t part of the problem, WJ. But the biggest, most self-focused egos in the world can’t wage a War unless it has some mechanism to get other people to fight them and pay for them.

        And that is why Humans have always come up with systems of government and governance that enable the owners and operators of the politicians ~ and their bureaucrats and political appointees ~ to bring the full force of their power to use the authority of the government to regulate and manipulate the nation’s Economy and Civil Society to those owners’ and operators’ advantage.

        And when War is to the advantage of those owners and operators, War happens.

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        1. That’s why the Defence Industry stocks are going into the stratosphere with the Ukraine War. The US is already the biggest ARMS MERCHANT in the History of Nations is selling more to it’s NATO Captive Client States.

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  6. And as far as whether or not Russia is committing “War Crimes” in Ukraine: At this stage of the game, on what basis does Anybody have to believe Anything that Anybody ~ be they Ukrainian, Russian, or American ~ says about what is actually happening there?

    And if they have committed War Crimes ~ as the Colonel pointed out ~ what have the Russians done that the US didn’t do long ago in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and so forth? And long before that in Vietnam?

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    1. The US dominates NATO and the War narrative. The US has been at War with Russia in one form or another since the end of WWII.

      Like the attempted regime change in Syria was to weaken Iran, this US War with Russia using Ukrainians as the Sacrificial lambs is to isolate China’s by going after it’s ally

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    2. in answer to your most relevant oppugning, jg moebus: no nation has perpetrated more egregious violations against human rights, since the inception of the war crimes court in the hague, than has the US. its tumescent sense of imperialistic exceptionalism defies credulity. it is no more than a glorified, duplicitous version of what we observed during our years in papua new guinea [2007~’09] when tribal groups summarily and nakedly attacked their neighbouring tribes in oder to gain access to their pigs, young femmes, and forest resources [in the order listed of their value strata]. the US has simply upped the psycho-babble of dramaturgy, double-speak, and tactical delusions.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Wake up headlines this morning,

    • Finland seized artwork en route to Russia as part of E.U.-imposed sanctions. The paintings, sculptures and antiquities were on loan to museums and galleries in Japan and Italy, and are worth 42 million euros ($46 million). I mentioned in an earlier post last week, US Congressman Eric Swalwell wrote he was in Finland urging Neutral Finland to join NATO. Obviously Findland is not Neutral anymore.

    Twitter suspended Scott Ritter for violating their Rules for saying the Bucha massacres are a Ukrainian false flag operation and the US is guilty of aiding and abetting it with Biden trying to shift blame onto Russia creating another “Presidential War Criminal.”

    The specific Twitter rule justifying the suspension is “You may not engage in the target harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. This includes wishing or hoping that someone experiences physical harm” That “Rule” is exempted when Putin is the target.

    On the positive side, there was so much push back by other Twitter users the suspension was rescinded.

    “The West did not want equal cooperation and, as we can now see, has kept true to the “will and testament” of Zbigniew Brzezinski who said that Ukraine should not be allowed to side with Russia. With Ukraine, Russia is a great power, while without Ukraine, it is a regional player. We understand that this is a mere exaggeration. But it fits nevertheless the philosophy and the mentality of western leaders. No effort was spared to turn Ukraine into an instrument to contain Russia. Into an “anti-Russia,” as President Putin said. This is neither a metaphor nor an exaggeration.”
    Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions during his meeting with finalists of the International Track as part of the Leaders of Russia management competition, Moscow, March 19, 2022

    https://www.mid.ru/en/press_service/minister_speeches/1805180/

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    1. US/NATO War Propaganda will never show this to the American People and they have been so brainwashed to be anti-Russia/Putin, they will dismiss it as Russian Propaganda or at least a French Russian troll like I’m accused of being for my comments in the Washington Post pointing out all the US equivalencies for all the evil they accuse Russia of doing in this World.

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  8. “The Warfare State’s Infinitely Mendacious Echo Chamber
    by David Stockman Posted on April 07, 2022
    It all starts with the number $813 billion, the Biden national defense budget for FY 2023. That number is so hideously – nay, grotesquely – large that it is the inherent fount of the war fevers, Russophobia and sweeping disinformation that now gushes from the Washington war machine and its auxiliaries in the mainstream media.

    The fact is, never before in the history of mankind have economic resources of this gigantic magnitude been showered upon the blob-like military-industrial-intelligence-foreign aid-think tank-NGO-lobbying complex that is now ensconced in the world’s leading national capital.

    Accordingly, there are literally hundreds of thousands of uniformed and civilian government employees and private contractors and consultants operating within the confines of the beltway and its outlying nodes that have an overriding interest in keeping the fiscal gravy-train flowing. So doing, they excel in inventing, spinning, hyping and lying about the national security threats which justify a “defense” budget of this staggering size.

    Indeed, there is so much fat and walking around money is these elephantine totals that the US defense budget functions like a self-licking ice cream cone. Endless pockets of research and study money end up funding the think tanks, NGO’s and consultants who, in turn, make it their business to fuel a massive threat exaggeration syndrome. And they do so day-in and day-out focused upon a constantly rotating set of theaters all around the planet.

    For want of doubt, just recall where the defense budget was at the height of the Cold War when the Soviet Union was at the peak of its industrial might and at which time President Eisenhower delivered his famous farewell address warning of the dangers of unchecked power in the military-industrial complex. The budget then, which the greatest general to ever occupy the Oval Office felt was more than adequate to provide for the nation’s security, was $52 billion in dollars of the day.

    In FY2021 purchasing power equivalents that translates to $370 billion, meaning that the pending Biden budget is 2.2X larger in real terms…………………………”

    https://original.antiwar.com/David_Stockman/2022/04/06/the-warfare-states-infinitely-mendacious-echo-chamber/

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  9. If only Joe Biden had of nominated Professor John Mearsheimer as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs instead of Victoria Nuland.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Nuland was integral to the 2014 US Coup/regime change of the elected Russian friendly government, installing the anti-Russian government headed by the man she said she wanted even before the regime change took place.

      When President Biden re-appointed her as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, his intention must have been to re-assure Russian President Putin he had nothing to fear with NATO advancing through Ukraine right up to Russia’s border.

      Voices like Professor Mearsheimer and Colonel Doug Macgregor are not given any air time on US MSM, Propagandists for the US War Machine, as they demonize Putin for silencing all dissent from the Official government narrative.

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  10. I was unaware of Professor Richard Falk, International Law Scholar, and former UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Rights under the Israeli Occupation. In that position, he was the Jew the Israelis loved to hate.

    My interest in him was peaked when I read the UN Secretary-General, the US & Israel were calling for his dismissal from that UN Position.
    My 1st thought was ‘he must be doing something right’ and doing research on him, I became a regular on his Blog.

    I admire his abilities and complete control of his Intellectual faculties at 91, still lecturing, writing, and being sought out for interviews. This is his latest writing in CounterPunch,
    ‘MAKE PEACE, NOT WAR, IN UKRAINE’
    Russia launched its massive invasion of Ukraine on February 24 flagrantly violating the most fundamental norm of international law—the prohibition of recourse to international force except in exercising the right of self-defense against a prior armed attack.
    Yes, there were a series of irresponsible provocations by NATO that aroused understandable security concerns in Moscow, including the relentless expansion of the Cold War NATO alliance after the Cold War was over, the threat from the Soviet Union had disappeared, and promises were made by Western leaders of no further NATO expansion. Such geopolitical behavior amounted to imprudent statecraft by the West, especially given the Russian anxiety about being surrounded by hostile forces.
    Such eminent figures as George Kennan, Jack Matlock (respected former U.S. ambassador to Russia), and Henry Kissinger issued warnings to this effect, but they went unheeded in Washington…………………..

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/30/make-peace-not-war-in-ukraine/

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  13. ‘In Bucha, the scope of Russian barbarity is coming into focus’

    I made this comment in The Washington Post 2 Days ago, in their article header above, but I also mentioned the same thing in this site before that.
    “Before the Russian invasion, I went to the OSCE daily reports monitoring the ceasefire violations between the Ukraine government and the majority Russian speaking UKRAINIANS in the Donbas who did not accept the 2014 US orchestrated Coup/regime change of the Russian friendly government they voted for, changing it for a US puppet Neo-Nazi anti-Russian government triggering the 8 year Civil War.

    US WAR PROPAGANDA does not inform the Public there was a dramatic INCREASE of Ukrainian government forces shelling the Civilian population in the Donbass, and that was the provocation for the Russian incursion.

    I know it because I saw the figures for myself every Day.”

    So it is very interesting to come across this article just now, showing in greater detail what, I saw going to the OSCE site before the War started.

    https://www.thepostil.com/the-military-situation-in-the-ukraine/

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  14. I believe that a growing percentage of people are realizing that ‘civilized society’ should refrain from hastily/reactively self-righteously condemning the evil acts of one racial, ethnic, religious and/or cultural group over another.

    I once heard a philosophy professor say that all people should avoid believing, let alone claiming, that they are not capable of committing an atrocity, even if relentlessly pushed. Contrary to what is claimed or felt by many of us, he said, deep down there’s a tyrant in each of us that, under the just-right circumstances, can be unleashed. And maybe even more so when convinced that ‘God is on our side’.

    While I don’t hold much faith in scriptural teachings, I do give credence to the Biblical claim (Jeremiah 17:9) that base corporeal human nature is “desperately wicked.”

    Although some identifiable groups have been brutally victimized throughout history a disproportionately large number of times, the victims of one place and time can and sometimes do become the victimizers of another place and time. Meanwhile, many contemptible social-media news trolls internationally decide which ‘side’ they hate less thus ‘support’ via politicized commentary post.

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