The satisfaction of being on the right side of history (rev. 1)

With the rise of fascism in the United State, and the failure of key nations to observe and uphold international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, it is easy to forget the glorious nature of the standards and values we are fighting to uphold.

These values and standards are largely embodied in the texts of the United Nations Charter, the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the Law of War and their subsequent protocols, and in the many conventions on international human rights that have been adopted following the approval of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948. Practically every country in the world has ratified these conventions. Of particular importance is the 1967 U.N. Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

These treaties or conventions are supported by the populations of the great majority of countrie in the world, despite flagrant violations by their governments from time to time.

Currently, the chief violators are Russia (e,g,, Ukraine), Israel (e.g., Gaza and the West Bank, and in the region), the United States (e.g., the attack on Iran in July 2024 and complicity in Israeli attacks on Iran, and complicity in Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza, and attacks on alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean), and China (illegal occupation of islands and outcroppings in the South China Sea).

Still, what humanity has accomplished represents a stupendous achievement.

Consider for a moment the values and standards we are fighting to uphold.

We are fighting to repel Russian aggression in Ukraine. The international Crime of Aggression is in a sense the mother of all the destruction and war crimes that frequently follow act act of aggression such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the time of the Nuremberg Trial in 1945-46, the crime was known as a “crime against peace”. The major Nazi war criminals were hung for committing this crime.

We are defending civilization, against those who would start wars and engage in monstrous war crimes, as the Russians have done.

We should be proud we are defending children in schools, doctors and patients in hospitals, and innocent civilians in apartments from being killed by Russians (e.g., Russian bombing of a municipal theater where people were seeking shelter, and innocent civilians living in apartment blocks that were deliberately bombed by the Russian aggressors).

Consider the strength of our moral position vis-á-vis that of the Russians.

We are defending the lives of innocent children. They are trying to kill innocent children. Their depravity is such that at one point in the war they were painting “for the children” on the bombs they planned to drop on schools where children were gathered.

We have been supporting Ukrainian soldiers who were seeking to protect the children from the Russians. The Russians, following a pre-meditated plan, were fighting to kidnap the Russian children and remove them to Russia for “re-education” and reassignment to Russian families. At least 20,000 children have been kidnapped and removed to Russia. Some estimates put the figure at 35,000.

In the Donbas, beginning in 2014, the Russians assassinated local political leaders and officials, and anyone else who they thought might oppose Russian rule in the territories they occupied.

Imagine the depravity of the Russian soldiers and their commanders in Moscow and in the Russian armed forces. Their goal is to kill innocent children and other civilians. Their goal is to kidnap innocent children and remove them to Russia. Their goal is to use torture and assassination to establish totalitarian rule in the territories they occupy. Their goal is to destroy the Ukrainian electrical grid so innocent civilians will freeze in the winter.

Their goal is to destroy cities, and to massacre residents of cities and towns like Bucha, or Mariupol.

We, on the other hand, Ukrainian soldiers and we who have backed the Ukrainian military and economy, have supported the noblest of ideals, freedom, respect for the. laws of war (international humanitarian law), and international human rights law. Respect for the lives and physical integrity of all human beings, even Russian prisoners of war.

We can be proud of the values we and the Ukrainians are defending.

We can be proud that we are fighting to support freedom in Ukraine, to guarantee liberty for its citizens, and are not willing to consign millions of Ukrainians in the occupied territories to a life of enslavement under the totalitarian boot of the Russian aggressors.

We and the Ukrainians are fighting to uphold the noblest values and achievements of civilization.

For that we should feel proud that we are fighting on the right side of history.

FURTHER READING

See, e.g.,

1)James Rowles, “Lessons from the Ukraine War--On Freedom,” Trenchant Observations, September 20, 2023.

***

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 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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