Putin, Netanyahu, and Trump: Three war criminals attacking three pillars of the international rule of law
Three Avenging Avatars of Anarchy
Three war criminals are currently leading the assault on three pillars of the international rule of law.
Russian President Vladimir Putin - Crime of Aggression and War Crimes in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin, the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Ukraine, is leading the attack on the cornerstone of the U.N.-Charter based international legal order. That principle, the central pillar of the international political system, is the prohibition of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
Important corollaries of this principle include the non-recognition of the acquisition of territory acquired through the illegal use of military force, and the principle that any treaty secured by coercion is void under international law.
Putin also leads the attack on International Humanitarian law or the Law of War, with a strategy in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine built on the systematic commussion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine this attack is accompanied by, and in many respects co-terminous with a massive assault on the entire edifice of human rights protection, including the systematic violation of many international human rights treaties to which Russia itself is a party.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - War Crimes in Ghaza
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the subject if an international arrest warrant for warbcrimes committed in Ghaza, has with Putin been a main leader in the assault on International Humanitarian Law. The entire Israeli assault on Ghazi appears to be built on the systematic commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, arguably amounting to genocide.
Israel has systematically violated the proportionality and other requirements of International Humanitarian Law, often lying as it argues that it is complying with international law in general and international humanitarian law in particular. Such “compliance” has cost tens of thousands of innocent civilian lives in Ghaza, where over 50,000 people (including Hamas fighters) have been killed since October 2923.
U.S. President Donald Trump - War Crimes in Ghaza; Assault on International Trade Law and World Trade Organization (WTO)
U.S. President Donald Trump is presumably guilty of war crimes in Ghaza as a result of the U.S, supply of weapons and financing to Israel used in Israel’s commission of war crimes in Ghaza, and its likely provision of intelligence and direct involvement in operations or their planning and execution in Ghaza.1
Trump is also leading the assault on the rules-based internatiinal trading system established by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1948 and many subsequent agreements, including those establishing the World Trade Organization in 1995 and accompanying agreements.
Trump has justified his violation of WTO rules by invoking a national security exception in a clearly illegal interpretation of its meaning, and blocked the WTO’s hughest dispute resolution chamber from ruling on the issue by refusing to name members the panel necessary to constitute the quorum required for it to reach decisions.
With his tariff war against the world in April 2025, Trump has basically violated all of its key provisions and acted as if the international trade law adopted by treaty and agreement among the nations of the world were irrelevant ordid not exist at all.
In conclusion, we can see how these three war criminals have been conducting an assault on three main pillars of the U.N. Charter-based international legal order.
Closely related to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Conquest, War, Famine, and Death), they are the Avenging Avatars of Anarchy.
See Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,Article 25,Individual criminal responsibility. Article 25 provides,
1. The Court shall have jurisdiction over natural persons pursuant to this Statute.
2. A person who commits a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court shall be individually responsible and liable for punishment in accordance with this Statute.
3. In accordance with this Statute, a person shall be criminally responsible and liable for punishment for a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court if that person:(a) Commits such a crime, whether as an individual, jointly with another or through another person, regardless of whether that other person is criminally responsible;
(b) Orders, solicits or induces the commission of such a crime which in fact occurs or is attempted;
(c) For the purpose of facilitating the commission of such a crime, aids, abets or otherwise assists in its commission or its attempted commission, including providing the means for its commission (emphasis added).
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James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities.
He studied the history of Nazi Germany at Stanford, and has studied and worked on human rights, judicial reform, and access to justice projects in many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and in Afghanistan and Russia. At Harvard Law School, he taught a course on “Law, Human Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America”.
At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS)OAS, he worked on human rights cases involving forced disappearances, executions, and torture in a number of authoritarian countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recent Books by the Author
James P. Rowles, The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024). Available on Amazon, and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
James P. Rowles, Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (2024). Available on Amazon,and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
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