Tuesday 18 March 2014

Gunboat Diplomacy


I just can't help feeling that restricting the travel arrangements and freezing the assets of certain Russian and Russo-Ukranian politicians (when they've had ample time to move their assets) is as effectual as doing absolutely nothing.

Surely a fast-track induction of Ukraine into NATO would have made a slightly more compelling argument?

That said, if the citizens of Crimea want to join Russia, then surely that's a democratic right? There again, if the manner in which it was conducted was illegal according to international law (which most commentators agree is the case), then Russia has made a mockery of the United Nations and should be expelled through legal process.

One wonders whether the UN is headed for the same fate as the League of Nations.


2 comments:

Alan Burnett said...

I have to say that the citizens of Crimea have been given a greater democratic say in their decision to become independent (and no doubt later to return to Russia) than they were when they were given to Ukraine in the first place.

Chairman Bill said...

I have to agree, Alan.

I do wonder, however, whether International Law is just one big jumble of incompatibilities. It certainly seems that way when it can be interpreted in so many ways.