How to REALLY sanction Russia and its leaders for their continuing acts of barbarism
The war criminals must be punished
Note to readers
The publication of articles in Trenchant Observations has been disrupted for the last few weeks due to the fact that I have been highly distracted by moving, and still am to some extent.
There are three phases to moving:
1) Get your stuff out of your old place;
2)Transport and get your stuff into your new place and into storage, sorting what goes to each; and
3)Getting your stuff at the new place organized, which may involve further sorting and exchanges between your new place and storage.
Currently I am in Phase 3, which can involve maddening moments as when you really need something (e.g., a certain printer power cord) and can’t find it.
As a result of this and other experiences (e.g., writing in the middle of the night to meet my publication schedule), I am introducing a few minor changes in the publication schedule.
For now I will aim at maintaining a general schedule for publication on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, However, I am introducing one change: the publication schedule will be flexible, and if I need more time to edit an article to get it into top shape, I may delay publication. Moreover, not every article will be highly polished, On some days I may republish an article from The Trenchant Observer blog which is not so polished.
Sometimes it is hard to keep up with events.
Also, I am now thinking about publishing a book on the major developments and decision making in the run-up and course of tbe Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The book would be based on a selection of some of the best articles from the Trenchant Observations newsletter and from The Trenchant Observer blog.
In my conversations with readers I find they often raise questions that have been fully answered in earlier articles. It is not reasonable, however, to expect that readers will remember every article published over the course of many months or even years. Therefore, it should be useful to have the articles pulled together in one place, in a book.
To assist me in putting together the book, I would like to ask you, my loyal readers, to help by identifying the articles you liked the most. I am thinking about presenting the articles in chronological order within each of seven or eight parts or sections, organized by theme. I will share this outline with you as it develops.
Because the book like the Newsletter will be aimed at readers like you, it will be very helpful to know which articles you liked. I would also like to know which articles you didn’t like or think should be left out of the book and, if possible, a word or two as to why (e.g., too technical, boring, etc.).
I think that with your inputs it should be possible to put together a very good book.
So please join in, and send me your thoughts and suggestions, either through the Comments box on Trenchant Observations or by an email to
jrowles@pacbell.net
***
How to REALLY sanction Russia and its leaders for their continuing acts of barbarism
The war criminals must be punished
by
James Rowles*
*Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) in International Law,
Harvard University
Russia continues to attack civilians, civilian infrastructure, and other civilian targets in Ukraine. Moreover, each Ukrainian soldier killed in an illegal war of aggression represents on the moral plane a murder. This latter point is of critical importance. It will be addressed in detail in a future article.
I am beginning to think of the need to develop new and harsher punishments for the war criminals who are responsible for and who are running this war. Further punishments for the Russian population which is supporting or tolerating this war also need to be considered.
In dealing with war criminals and considering their punishments, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of speaking as prosecutors in specific cases. Prosecutors speak of “alleged” or “possible war crimes” and the presumption of innocence. While such diffidence is appropriate for prosecutors discussing a specific case, it is not appropriate when we are discussing war crimes being committed on a massive scale.
When we see war crimes being committed before our very eyes, there is no reason to forego the use of language which accurately describes what we are seeing, it being understood that we are not speaking in narrowly legal terms about the actual prosecution of an individual in a specific case before a war crimes tribunal.
If we see war crimes being committed, we should call them out as war crimes.
The death penalty is a well-established penalty for the crime of aggression (known under the rubric of “crimes against peace” at the time of the Nuremberg Trials), for crimes against humanity, and for the crime of genocide.
There is one hurdle, however. Many countries including those in the EU have abolished the death penalty, and where possible their laws might need to be amended to permit the imposition of the death penalty in extraordinary circumstances for war crimes such as those the Russians are committing now. The Nuremberg Tribunal imposed the death penalty on the main Nazi war criminals for the commission of these crimes.
Under its charter, the Statute of Rome, the International Criminal Court (ICC) does not impose the death penalty. However, other international tribunals and the courts of individual countries can still impose the death penalty under their own charters and laws.
In the present case, the Nuremberg precedent of imposing the death penalty on the major war criminals should be followed wherever possible. If a new institutional structure is created, the death penalty should be included as a penalty for extraordinarily egregious crimes such as those Vladimir Putin and his Russian accomplices are committing.
There appears to be no precedent in modern times, at least since World War II, for a country building its entire strategy of aggressive war on the systematic violation of the laws of war (international humanitarian law).
We are not talking here about a rogue soldier who has violated the laws of war, or even a group of rogue soldiers.
We are talking about barbarism, pure and simple. Not incidental barbarism, but rather the conscious and intentional commission of atrocities within a general war strategy based on barbarism—ordered by and carried out as the policy of the state.
It seems that the penalties we have available are not adequate to really punish the authors of the crimes of which we are speaking.