By Prof. S. A. Zuru:
It was a Scholar of European and World History, Late Prof. B Swai, that once declared, ” History, the British made it, the Irish hated it and the Americans will never learn from it “The truth is that, the desperate recourse to international law by United States and Western Europe at this moment of monumental crisis of the international order only underscored the fierce urgency of now. It is true that both under article 7 of the United Nations Charter and the general principles of international law the violation of the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of any nation Country constitutes a heinous crime in international law, however, the problem is the moral credentials of the born again evangelist of the present advocacy of supremacy of international law in the context of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
This author emphatizes with Ukraine however, before Ukraine, there was Cuba, after Cuba, there was Panama, after Panama, there was Iraq and after Iraq, there was Libya, the gapping wound of which still reverbates across the African Continent. It goes without saying that, in all the foregoing selected historical instances, the United States and Western Europe were the worst culprits in the trajectory of transgression of State sovereignty and the theatrics of undermining the potency and integrity of international law and diplomacy. During the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, the United States unwittingly handed over the same play book that provided Russians with the fulcrum for the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by insisting that national security supercedes sovereignty of State and international law.
Again and again and again, the United States and Western Europe have rendered the United Nations impotent thus, making it a mockery of itself. Beyond the current rhetoric and the belated crocodile tears, the world cannot afford to suffer fools or collective amnesia. Since the 1967 Arab, Israel war, there have never been a single United Nations Resolution on the Palestinian Question meant to hold Israel government accountable for its illegal occupation and human rights abuses that was not vetoed by the United States, France and Great Britain. Additionally, in Iraq, in a flagrant contempt of international law, the same self arrogated police inspectors of the world order ignored all entreaties of caution and rejected appeals for diplomacy and pursued regime change on the merit of a ponzi intelligence which General Collin Powell the then Secretary of State described as the greatest tragedy of his career in the service of his Country.
To the chagrin of the organised international community, President George W Bush assembled the so called coalition of the willing outside the framework of the United Nations and led the clinical destruction of an entire civilization in Iraq, the plundering of their oil resources and in a crusader fashion organised the State Murder of Saddam Hussein in a trial charade that was a joke taken too far. The same script was adopted for Libya, the cascading consequences of which in the form of domestic and international terrorism is there for everybody to see. In the thesis of these pathological harbingers of self-catering human rights and democracy, international law and structures of international order are simply their exclusive prerogative and will not hesitate to leverage on their dominance of international institutions like; the United Nations, the World Bank and IMF to stifle the voices of reason around the world.
It is true that no one should underestimate the tragedy of what is going on in Ukraine but, at the same time, it will be the height of hypocrisy on our own part and a scar on our collective conscience to put record straight. With the engineered collapse of the Soviet Union and the Russian retreat to its present international boundaries of Russian Federation with its wounded pride, its ridicule as a 3rd grade power in a well choreographed game of thrones by the United States and Western Europe provided the building blocks for the resurgence of hyper nationalism in Russia and PresidentPutin isonly a salesman. Worst yet, the behaviour of the Baltic States of Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Slovenia with the exception of Belarus that emerged out of the ashes of of the collapse of former Soviet Union did not help matters either.
Basking in the euphoria of independence, they simply joined the chorus band of Western alliance and played pivotal role in diminishing the outreach influence of Russian Power at the World stage. And most infuriating in the mentalityof the Russian political establishment was their dismissal of any suggestion of a common historical heritage with Russia and their joining of the project spearheaded by United States and Western Europe intended for the global demonisation of Russia as an anti Christ. As the war rages on and the world watches with utter trepidation and admiration depending on the perspectives, make no mistake, the Chinese are watching and taking notes with the hope of adopting the same script in resolving the Taiwan Question thus, for the world, it is not yet uhuru.
Finally, take it or leave it, what is happening in Ukraine has changed the global power arithmetic, it represents the Russian rebirth, welcome to a bipolar world and welcome to a new world order. Thank you!
*** Professor Abdullahi Zuru is a British trained lawyer, one time Chancellor Nigerian ?? University of Petroleum!
MY TAKE
This is the most barefaced, simple to understand, unambiguous representation of history, double standards, grouping and binding together in order to demonize and ostracize an equal and important pillar in the power equation of the world!
I subscribe completely to the position of Russia but must quickly add, I empathize with Ukraine, not insofar as they (Ukraine) called the aggression to themselves but only on the futility of war, death and carnage as a determinant of social change, not unmindful of the innocent victims and civilians caught in between.
Otherwise, it is well within the Russian rights to follow the crooked rule book we see the US and its allies apply and play for decades!
The thrust for me, is what lessons does Nigeria, nay Africa draws from all of this, rather than follow the jones’s and some mundane colonial nonexistent ties our leaders use to perpetuate themselves on leadership.
Nigeria has quickly taken a stand in support of US, UK and the West but it figures, does it not, if you ask me.
Prof. Zuru got it right but fell short of advising Nigeria and Africa.
Putin has been emphatic about his position and I believe him.
Should the West intervene in this crisis to the point where he felt the destruction of Russia is the goal, he assured the West, “THE WORLD WILL NOT EXIST WITHOUT RUSSIA”!
This is the war of RESPECT!
Somebody has to call to order these “mercenary” construct and the impotent UN before they pick the rest of the world up, one at a time.
Africa has and will always be a piece of cake, and at their convenience, when they come for us, by then, those that could come to our aid are themselves too weak to blink!
The subsaharan tragedy, terror and regime changes in West Africa believe it or not has a direct imprint of the fallout and what happened to Libya courtesy the US!
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