Op-ed:
On Lies Told, War Crimes, and What Ifs
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side
Patriots / Right Side Patriots Radio
“This war will be written in the history books,” - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 4/23/22
Simply, Vladimir Putin screwed up for Russia's president...and I use the word “president”
figuratively not literally...never expected Ukraine to put up such a
fight in the name of freedom, liberation, and self-determination nor
did he ever expect to see NATO stand united behind a country that's
not even a NATO member.
And in his thinking that Ukraine would cower in fear and quickly
surrender when up against the Russian army, what Putin forgot when
planning his war was the cardinal rule that elections do indeed have
consequences. And in the case of Ukraine those consequences can be
summed up in two words, Volodymyr Zelensky, a leader the West has not
seen since the days of Ronald Reagan. And while President
Trump saw no new wars happening on his watch courtesy of his rightful
“America First” policies, it was Reagan alone who had the
courage to publicly demand that then Russian President Mikhail
Gorbachev “tear down this wall”...in reference to the
Berlin Wall separating the then two Germany's.
And while many believe that Putin's goal in regards to Ukraine is
but his first step in remaking modern day Russia into the old style,
much feared Soviet Union...a pre-Reagan Soviet Union that is...what
Putin really wants, I believe, is for Mother Russia to stand alone
and unchallenged as the world's number one dictatorial super power.
And it's this very goal which now seems to go against both the wants
and needs of the Russian people themselves...a people who are
starting to lean more decidedly towards the west in their wanting to
be a part of capitalism's success.
And how do we know this? As more and more Russians learn
the truth about Putin's war and the atrocities being committed
against innocent Ukrainian civilians; and as they themselves are
becoming economic victims of a war Putin still claims is being
perpetrated in their name; Russians are fighting back against Putin
and his self appointed hierarchy via once unheard of, let alone seen,
anti-war protests in Russia's streets. Now willing to risk arrest,
imprisonment, and even death in support of their Ukrainian “brothers
and sisters,” if you will, as well as in an effort to try and
oust the man who sees the past as Russia's future, we also know that
some Russian troops deployed in Ukraine are refusing to fight
against a people and a country they have no qualms with.
So much for Vladimir Putin's lies that this incursion into Ukraine was solely about his stopping NATO’s eastern expansion, coupled with both a
permanent freeze on any further growth of NATO's military
infrastructure and a ban on intermediate-range missiles in Europe,
for the truth is that Putin is trying hard to take back the very country who
fought long and hard to become a sovereign nation. And this is seen not only in Ukraine's rising death toll that some rightfully equate to genocide, but in the seemingly overwhelming devastation...actually annihilation...being inflicting upon southern Ukrainian cities like
Mariupol.
And when last week's developments are added into the mix, as in Putin's possible incursion into the Transnistria region of Moldava...an area backed and armed by Moscow... the proof of Putin's true intentions becomes
clear. So what are those intentions? One just needs to look at Putin's envisioned map below to understand that with Putin now saying he only wants Ukraine's south, which to him includes said region of Moldava, Ukraine loses all access to both the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea along with their ports.
Simply, access to the Black Sea itself is crucial to Ukraine's economic survival in relation to commerce, trade, and even military operations for without that access, and with Russia's ally Belarus to the north coupled with his successes in the east and west, except for Poland and a tiny bit of Romania, Ukraine becomes dangerously landlocked by Russia. And if Poland or Romania were ever in Putin's sights could NATO be counted upon to go against Putin as both are NATO members? I think not as NATO would still be cowering in fear of Putin's using nuclear and/or chemical weapons.
And this might have been Putin's plan all along, for southern Ukraine not Kyiv has always, I believe, held the key to Ukraine's possible defeat...defeat via economic suffocation...while Russia gains even more access to the Black Sea, Ukraine loses all access they had.
So Putin's war...the war he still calls a
“special
operation”...is indeed about true Soviet-style territorial
expansion...in this case retaking satellite countries Russia lost
with the end of the Cold War along with his seeking revenge on NATO,
the very organization he perceives as standing in his way. In fact,
about a week or so ago right after the Russian navy's Black Sea
flagship, the Moskva, sank while being towed back to port after
having been struck by Ukraine's Neptune missiles, Russian news commentator Olga Skabeyeva stated to her viewers that they need to
“recognize” that Russia was not only
“fighting
against Nato infrastructure, if not Nato itself.” And to stress
her point even further she added that,
“One can safely call what
it has escalated into is World War Three. That’s absolutely for
sure.”
Now remember that in Putin's Russia what
is reported on state television must first be ok'd by Russia's
propaganda ministry before being said on air. So if it's reported on air that Putin is now fighting World War III...even if
it's in his own mind alone...the question then becomes why can't or won't
NATO accept that as fact and act accordingly...as in give Zelensky
the needed fighter planes that he's been asking for? And know the answer
is really quite simple... it's because NATO still cowers in fear of
Vladimir Putin's musings about using atomic and/or chemical weapons
if need be. And this alone allows the fear of possibilities being
stronger for NATO than the reality of what most likely is empty
threats by Putin, the man who relishes in using old Cold War tactics
like fear to dictate to NATO what they can and cannot do.
And yet while Ukraine and her
people are paying an overwhelming physical price in both “blood
and treasure,” Zelensky's
forces, comprised mostly of self-organizing and self-mobilized
volunteers, are
holding strong, thus
leaving what Putin hoped would be but a 5-day easily won war, to face
the chaos of war itself empowering Ukraine and not Russia. So while
the Russian army is forced to fight on, the Russian people are truly growing weary
of war especially now that Russian forces have begun attacking Ukraine's entire eastern front after Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, last Sunday, rejected Putin’s ultimatum that they surrender or face “total destruction.”
So as the fighting continues on unabated, talk of Putin having committed war crimes continues to circulate in the West, but as the old saying goes
“talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words.”
And to that end the question
remains, will Vladimir Putin and his generals ever be tried for war
crimes let alone be convicted of said crimes? And here being the only
time I have ever agreed with Joe Biden on anything, we see his
“mop-up team”
continuing to quell Biden's words that he believes, as do I, that
Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. And while the prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court in the Hague (the ICC) recently
stated that an investigation into “possible” war crimes
being committed in Ukraine is on the table, and that evidence
is being gathered to try and bring the perpetrators to justice, the
fact remains that proving war crimes took place in
Ukraine is not as cut and dry as it seems.
And this is no matter that
under international law the
“purposeful targeting of civilians”
as well as
“assaults that cause disproportionate civilian
casualties” when military targets alone were the stated
objective, have indeed taken place in Ukraine...something we have all
witnessed every time we turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper, or
simply peruse the internet.
“The expectation for prosecuting someone for war crimes and
crimes against humanity is to be able to demonstrate individual
responsibility and be able to demonstrate that they are directing or
responsible for a policy of committing these crimes. And that can be
very difficult, especially when you don't have the cooperation of the
state from which that kind that person originates, which we would
obviously not have in the case of Russia.”
These are the words of Marti Flacks, director of the “Center
for Strategic and International Studies Human Rights Initiative,”
who recently stated that prosecutors need three things to hold
perpetrators of war crimes accountable. First, evidence must be presented showing that serious international crimes
have taken place; second, that a venue with a jurisdiction to try the
crimes can be secured; and third, that identification of defendants
must occur, as in an individual or individuals must be named as the
ICC does not and will not try states. In other words, Vladimir Putin
himself would carry the full brunt of any charges levied while Russia along with her military would not charged.
And while Vladimir's Putin's actions
in regards to Ukraine surely do meet the first two criteria...meaning his
actions ordered would now have officially been deemed
“atrocity crimes”...as
in but not limited to “genocide” and/or
“crimes against
humanity”...and with a needed trial venue being fairly easy to secure...it's the
third criteria that could take years to happen for naming Putin as
the defendant could lead to serious ramifications. How
so...because it would involve Mother Russia herself...as in the
Russian people or even the military...turning on and turning in
Vladimir Putin for trial, something I'm not sure the Russian people,
the military, let alone those in the Russian government are ready
to do just yet.
Simply, for Russia to arrest and then surrender Putin to ICC
prosecutors would most likely take a new Russian Revolution of
sorts...an actual regime change not unlike the Bolshevik Revolution
of 1917. Not an easy task to accomplish, especially while the war is
still ongoing, never mind the fact that many in Russia's military
still hold a strong personal allegiance to Putin and would put down
even a mere musing of revolution. And remember, Putin himself must be
present at trial as the ICC also does not and will not try
individuals in “absentia.”
So where exactly do we stand now in regards to Vladimir Putin ever
being brought to justice let alone trial? As I'm writing this article
know that the physical evidence of Putin's wrongdoings is surely
being collected what with media footage showing the reality of all
one really needs to know; folks are being interviewed to help corroborate eyewitness testimony; what's referred to as
“contextual
information and documentation”...which
explains both the circumstances and severity of where the alleged
crimes were committed...has already been partially cataloged; and yet
Vladimir Putin still holds the world in the grip of fear of both
nuclear and chemical weapons. And this is especially true after last Wednesday's announcement by Russia’s
Defense Ministry that it had conducted the first
test launch of its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile...a
nuclear weapon that Putin claims wil
l "provide food for thought for those who try to threaten our country."
Translation: even putting threats aside we know that Vladimir Putin has committed numerous
war crimes; and we also know that if an arrest warrant was issued by
the ICC that all 123 members of the
“Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court” would then be
“obligated”
to turn him over to said ICC if he were to be caught...a slim
possibility for sure. And even though Ukrainian fighters continue to
hold their ground against Putin's illegal incursion into their
sovereign nation, Putin understands that as long as he holds onto
power and avoids physically being present before the court, it will
be difficult for him ever to brought to justice.
Remember, a trial of this magnitude would drag on for years before
any verdict is reached. And how do we know this...because the ICC
case regarding the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea is still ongoing.
Now if only our government would turn over what it has on both
Ukraine and Putin...information that surely would help the
prosecution...maybe then Vladimir Putin would be brought to justice.
But with Biden in the White House and with Obama pulling his strings,
we know that will never happen and for obvious reasons. Sadly, case closed.
Copyright
© 2022 / Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All rights reserved.
************************************************************************************* For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, The Meme and The Mirror.
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