Is Putin’s War Legal?

A thorough examination of legal precedent is necessary before coming to snap conclusions about Russia’s invasion, including what St. Thomas Aquinas has to do with Vladimir Putin

it has apparently become obligatory for any commentator on the Ukraine war to state upfront that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “illegal” before proceeding to list reasons why the U.S. and NATO bear responsibility for what Russia has done.

This declaration of “illegality,” however, is almost never accompanied by a detailed analysis of why it is illegal. The statement stands on its own, intended, it seems, to protect the author from the out-of-control barrage of criticism and censorship being widely leveled at anyone not strictly toeing the line against Russia.

[consortiumnews.com]

No sane person would support war considering the conditions it leaves behind. Ending results are tremendously worse than any excuse used to lead to war. Wars built on lies and deception, using false information and erasure of history to gain support from the aggressors citizenship, should be viewed as not only crimes on the victimized country, but also the managed psychological aggression placed on that citizenship. As these conditions have gone unchecked for centuries, especially the past 5 decades, our allied western societies have become purely authoritarian resulting in heinous atrocities around the globe. When genuine defensive measures are deceptively managed psychologically being placed into the realm of illegal in comparison of true aggression, society loses its sanity. It also erases the aspect of economic warfare of sanctions in which western citizens are mindless about today happening to multiple countries racking up mass deaths within various means. Simply due to the fact they have no desire to be part of that western structure of servitude to capitalism. Which always leads to diminishing societies outside of the primary western structure. Where only the wealthy and hand picked puppet political placements benefit.

Snap conclusions in regards to many citizens around the globe, especially in the US, in other words, have been primarily based on a massive dis/misinformation campaign, again. Those of us who have attempted to draw others towards views of clarity have staunchly faced the obligatory factor of those who have once again allowed themselves to become psychologically victimized into that information warfare. Iraqed. Seemingly having learned nothing of the true nature of western governments agenda processing. Most of who have in the past verbally confronted this nature to some regard multiple times, yet as it is again being recycled for another venture fall lock step in line forgetting its history, again. A normalized cycle that extends the lack of accountability being placed on western representation of their actions off baseless accusations and erasure of history to benefit their unethical practices. They have currently managed to sway a vast amount of our populations into supporting the ugliness of their colonialism styled warfare on the planet which was rebranded fascism in the early 20th century. The means to mask their crimes on humanity and give it new faces. Today, it wears all of our faces. Their perception management campaign can now be seen a completed success. [consortiumnews.com] This article was written in 2014 by Robert Parry and partially covers the Ukraine war that most of you probably don't know about. That most of you won't even give time of your day to to inform yourselves on. He also partially explains the perception management campaign of the Reagan administration which was designed to keep you in the mindset that causes the current types of reactions to opposing information. He has written extensively on perception management and the Ukraine war long before most knew of it or were psychologically deceived into supporting it. That is, the part of it you think just began in late Feb. In which people like myself can't get people to educate themselves to the entire spectrum of the war that began in 2014. That which was started by Ukraine, not Russia.

{Some writers on the Ukraine war who condemn Russia for an illegal act compare it to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq as an equal act of aggression.

The phrase “false equivalency” was the mantra of U.S. cold warriors whenever someone pointed out that when the U.S. accused the Soviet Union, it was also guilty of wrongdoing. Since we are in a new cold war, the slogan is making a comeback. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. uttered it recently in response to the Russian ambassador telling the Security Council that when it comes to invasions, Russia could not compete with the U.S.

Comparing the U.S. invasion of Iraq to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a false equivalency on several grounds. The U.S. cried self defense, but Iraq was never remotely a threat to the territory of the United States, especially when the basis for this supposed threat, the existence of weapons of mass destruction, turned out to be cruelest lie of the century so far. There also weren’t thousands of Americans killed in a civil war inside Iraq, which is nearly 10,000 kilometers away from Washington. Ukraine borders Russia, where NATO has been nearing.}

Going into Feb when many think this war began, the Ukraine army with help of fascist elements in that army, had already brutally killed approximately 15,000 people in the Donbas regions. Having already destroyed cities, towns, and villages, along with critical infrastructure. They didn't get the respect Putin has given the citizenship in western Ukraine. A lot of the footage you see from MSCM today is the ruins of the past 8 years in regards of the Donbas regions. Deceptively being used against Russia. And it will be a cold day in hell before they'll show you the mass grave sites the Azov battalion left behind them of men women and children. The truths being left out by our MSCM is criminal once again to gain your empty support. As the wheels are falling off today on this clown cart, I assure you that some of you are going to feel an emptiness when you finally discover more facts. 8 years you're not informed of, Biden and his sons unethical practices, Hunters involvement with the bio labs there are coming out from his emails on the lap top, China and the Burisma energy company.

{It’s not just in Iraq and Serbia that the U.S. has made a mockery of the laws of war. There are abundant small examples from more obscure wars, like the 1989 invasion of Panama in which an entire poor neighborhood was pulverized, thousands of civilians were killed and there was no Security Council authorization. The U.S. said saving American lives allowed them to invade.}

When genuine defensive measures are deceptively managed psychologically being placed into the realm of illegal in comparison of true aggression, society loses its sanity. Where does that lead us towards? As virtually no one paid attention to the perpetual warring state in Latin America from the 80's onward. Due to a compliant MSCM that misinformed the world to benefit the agenda which was already geared to expand into today. They have plans to go to war with 7 countries is a microcosm. Russia has been a target for over a century they simply have a major problem in enacting the plan. Manufacturing a reason to go along with social disorder within isn't quite working for them. As with Venezuela, it's pretty fucking hard to do this when the vast majority of the citizenship support their government and understand what the ending results are once the fascist colonialism comes in. Venezuela's been there and they don't intend on going back. And the Russian's know their history better than anyone outside does. They've been viewing the madness outside their borders long enough to know what the west has in store for them.

{“First a bloody military operation was waged against Belgrade, without the UN Security Council’s sanction but with combat aircraft and missiles used in the heart of Europe. The bombing of peaceful cities and vital infrastructure went on for several weeks. I have to recall these facts, because some Western colleagues prefer to forget them, and when we mentioned the event, they prefer to avoid speaking about international law.

Then came the turn of Iraq, Libya and Syria. The illegal use of military power against Libya and the distortion of all the UN Security Council decisions on Libya ruined the state, created a huge seat of international terrorism, and pushed the country towards a humanitarian catastrophe, into the vortex of a civil war, which has continued there for years. The tragedy, which was created for hundreds of thousands and even millions of people not only in Libya but in the whole region, has led to a large-scale exodus from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe.

A similar fate was also prepared for Syria. The combat operations conducted by the Western coalition in that country without the Syrian government’s approval or UN Security Council’s sanction can only be defined as aggression and intervention.

But the example that stands apart from the above events is, of course, the invasion of Iraq without any legal grounds. They used the pretext of allegedly reliable information available in the United States about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. To prove that allegation, the US Secretary of State held up a vial with white power, publicly, for the whole world to see, assuring the international community that it was a chemical warfare agent created in Iraq.

It later turned out that all of that was a fake and a sham, and that Iraq did not have any chemical weapons. Incredible and shocking but true. We witnessed lies made at the highest state level and voiced from the high UN rostrum. As a result we see a tremendous loss in human life, damage, destruction, and a colossal upsurge of terrorism.

Overall, it appears that nearly everywhere, in many regions of the world where the United States brought its law and order, this created bloody, non-healing wounds and the curse of international terrorism and extremism.”}

{“For the United States and its allies, it is a policy of containing Russia, with obvious geopolitical dividends. For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation. This is not an exaggeration; this is a fact. It is not only a very real threat to our interests but to the very existence of our state and to its sovereignty. It is the red line which we have spoken about on numerous occasions. They have crossed it.”

Putin said he was also acting to save Russian speakers (many who have Russian passports) from a renewed offensive against them after eight years of attacks because they had rejected the 2014 U.S.-backed coup and declared independence from Ukraine. He said NATO and Ukraine:

“… did not leave us [Russia] any other option for defending Russia and our people, other than the one we are forced to use today. In these circumstances, we have to take bold and immediate action. The people’s republics of Donbass have asked Russia for help. In this context, in accordance with Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, with permission of Russia’s Federation Council, and in execution of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22, I made a decision to carry out a special military operation.”}

{McBride went on to tweet:

“We will pay a heavy price for our hubris of 2003 in the future. We didn’t just fail to punish Bush and Blair: we rewarded them. We re-elected them. We knighted them. If you want to see Putin in his true light imagine him landing a jet and then saying ‘Mission Accomplished.’ The justifications for the invasions of both Iraq and Ukraine are very similar: ‘They were hurting their own ppl. They have bad stuff that could harm us. We warned them to stop, or else. We had no choice but to step in to defend ourselves.’ The Russians didn’t blackmail the UN.”}

{Neither an Article 51 self-defense measure, nor a collective security resolution was ever passed by the Security Council. Therefore, according to the strict letter of today’s law, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illegal. But after what the U.S. has done tragically to the laws of war and the jungle it has created, it hardly seems to matter anymore.}

In other words. Public opinion does matter either. Evidently most don't really care either. Addicted to getting on social medias and spewing useless rhetoric has become normalized. Most are indoctrinated into a delusional reality where facts can be whatever MSCM says they are. Their information betrays us. And when those who oppose those false narratives attempt to lead us to factual discovery, most turn their noses at it. Facts and history be dammed within all the twist and deletions they suffer. Critical thought within self education of deciphering information among the public is nonexistent. We've essentially driven off the cliff into an abyss. The power structure loves it this way as the sole beneficiaries. Mission accomplished.