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To see a list of previous articles, enter “Ukraine” in the Search Box on the upper right, on The Trenchant Observer web site, and you will see a list in chronological order.

Dispatches

1) Mark Almond, “Putin’s supporters are on the march in the developing world; Marcos and Lula share a scepticism about the Western view of the Ukraine conflict our attitude towards Russia and China more broadly, The Telegraph, May 10, 2022;

2) David Miliband, “Law, not impunity, should be the West’s rallying cry; At the G7 summit, democratic countries can broaden their coalition if they frame the invasion of Ukraine correctly, ThecNew Statesman, May 6, 2022.

Commentary

Added May 14, 2022

U.S. diplomacy, under the leadership of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has failed miserably to enlist support not only for condemnation of Russia for its invasion of Uktaine and the barbarism of its attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, but also to secure participation in the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S., the EU, and other countries against Russia.

Blinken was very slow to bring the Ukraine situation to the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly.

When he appeared at the Council meeting on January 31, 2022, he was unprepared and didn’t even set out the legal case against Russia under the U.N. Charter and international law. Instead, he chose to make an emotional appeal to the Council’s members whose effect, if any, surely dissipated within a day.

He was like a lawyer going into a trial with a strong emotional appeal, but unprepared to cite the law or the evidence that might have made a serious impact on the jury.

The U.S. was very slow to make a legal case against Russia in general, and when it did it seemed perfunctory. It was not the kind of serious case that might have caused domestic problems for the governments which refused to condemn Russia, or who “abstained” on a vote condemning barbaric atrocities.

Before the invasion, the U.S. did not even challenge Russia for violating the prohibition in Article 2 paragraph 4 of the U.N. Charter against the threat of the use of force “against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.

To Russia’s repeated assertions that it could move its troops anywhere it wanted within its territory, the U.S. made no response. It was left to the German ambassador to the U.N. to make the argument, at the Security Council meeting on January 31, that Russia was blatantly violating this fundamental norm of international law.

There appears to be no strategy to win over the non-allied countries, in what is a civilizational struggle against Russia to uphold the U.N. Charter and international law.

The Trenchant Observer

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See also,

Only force can stop Putin

“Ukraine War, April 5, 2022 (II): Force must be used to stop Putin,” The Trenchant Observer, April 5, 2022.