If we find there are war crimes happening ...

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I have no worries whatsoever about Ukraine leading to WW3. ...... ah, well that's OK then. We can tell the international community to relax. Stand down chaps - all is well!

DaisyAnne war crimes are specific acts that break the Geneva onvention or other ruleslaid down to limit the horrors of war.

Quite a number of Serbian generals and senior politicians have been convicted of crimes like genocide and using chemical weapons and will be spending the rest f their lives in prison.

Charles Taylor, once President if Liberia is also serving a life sentence for war crimes. There are others in Syria and elsewhere who have indictments against them, but have yet to be captured and tried . In the meanwhile they live a hole in the corner life, in hiding or knowing that their freedom is dependent on staying in the country they are in and there being no change of regime.

Not perfect, but what is, but an attenpt to dela with war-crimes and it has been successful in a number of cases.

Talk now that the Russians are going to lay siege to Kyiv.

Surely we won’t sit by and let people starve?

All my life I have been a great supporter of the UN but I have just realised that there is a serious flaw in the UN constitution in that no member of the Security Council can be expelled from the Security Council without a unanimous vote of the members of the Security Council.

How was that clause ever approved?

It is obvious that a rogue member of the Security Council, like Russia, is never going to vote to expel itself.

That's a good summary M0nica. Things seem to have changed over the years but these people must live very secret lives knowing one day someone may/will catch up with them.

WWM, that's what they are asking about the troops surrounding Kyiv. They either sit outside and starve them out or they flatten it. Now I may not be anxious but that brings me to tears. It's especially sad when you see those brave people trying to stop the Russian convoy by standing in front of it. So, I would ask another question, could we do a modern Berlin Air Lift if we can't call a no-fly zone?

The people in Russia could and probably would do more but they are not getting the truth and however much you doubt what you are being told you are bound to absorb some of it - that's why they do it.

I’ve never quite understood how there can be a set of rules about warfare.

It seems quite reasonable to me. Certain practices: the use of rape as a weapon, certain types of weapons: chemical weapons for example are considered beyond even use in war and their is an international court behind these bans who will prosecute anyone uses them and have managed to convict and imprison enough people for anyone using them to know what could happen to them.

The more who are caught and convicted the stronger the court is seen. it will never stop every use of these weapons, but it will reduce their use.

varian

All my life I have been a great supporter of the UN but I have just realised that there is a serious flaw in the UN constitution in that no member of the Security Council can be expelled from the Security Council without a unanimous vote of the members of the Security Council.

How was that clause ever approved?

It is obvious that a rogue member of the Security Council, like Russia, is never going to vote to expel itself.

I don't know but surely that clause would mean a unanimous vote by all the other members not including the one to be expelled? Otherwise it would just be silly.

From the Economist:

"There is no serious doubt that Russia has broken international law in Ukraine. The ICC came into force in 2002 to prosecute four main crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression. There is prima facie evidence that Russia has committed at least three of those. Under the ICC statutes, war crimes include wilful killing, wilfully causing great suffering and the destruction and appropriation of property. These are also “grave breaches” of the Geneva Conventions which Russia has signed and which define international legal obligations not just in wars but in military actions where war has not been formally declared (as in Ukraine). These “grave breaches” provide the legal definition of war crimes under the Conventions. Crimes of aggression, according to the ICC, include invasion, military occupation, the annexation of land, bombardment, and the blockade of ports. And the ICC defines crimes against humanity as participation in and knowledge of “a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population”."

But how you bring anyone to court is more difficult.

The world watched as Hitler rose to fame all those years ago and said it would never happen again - well what is happening now? How can this happen in this day and age? Why hasn’t someone nuked the little buggar by now? All these questions and still we have to go on and try not to worry. We have just come through Covid, Brexit and Boris and now this!

I think you need leadership not equal madness Purplepixie. What do you think would happen if he was "nuked".

We do seem to have lived through a lot of history all in one go, don't we.

I would be quite happy not to live in "historic times" from now on, DaisyAnne.

DaisyAnne - Why do I need Leadership?

If he was nuked then maybe it would stop him from pressing that red button and killing millions?

Plus - NO need for the sarcasm

That was a plural "you" that should have been a "we" Purplepixie. Time for coffee, I think.

Sending you hugs DaisyAnne - I dont want to fall out with anyone. There is enough misery in the world.

DaisyAnne There was a senior British Generl on theradio this morning. He explained that if we had a no-fly zone, the Russians would undubtedly ignore it. NATO, aircraft (probably British and American) would then have to enforce it, which would result in air conflict between Russians and NATO. Under article 5 of the NATO treaty other NATO members would have to get involved and this would lead to WW3 between Russia and NATO. The territory of all NATO countries woukd then be enemy territory and we can be pretty sure that Putin would not hesitate to use nuclear missiles to hit the US and many countries in Western Europe.

Indeed , it could be argued that this is exactly what Putin wants, which is why it is so necessary to avoid it.

If we did that

Yes, that's what I understand MOnica. A no fly zone would have to be policed, presumably by NATO members, and as soon as the NFZ was enforced by shooting down a Russian plane, then Russia would declare itself at war against NATO with NATO being the instigator. From what I have read from various sources, many military and political pundits think this is Putin's aim. I did hear a bit of an interesting report on R4 this morning; basically, all the Putin inner circle, the people with yachts, villas, properties in many cities, children in UK schools, wives with accounts at Harrods etc., now stand to lose a great deal, their lives now will be Russia only, not what they and their families are used to, it was described as being trapped in a rich North Korea. It is hoped they will be the ones to 'persuade' Putin, presumably with the help of CIA, MI5 types. Putin is obviously ill, he is erratic, rants for hours, and is looking very puffy about the face, maybe he is terminally ill and as far as he sees it, has nothing to lose as he tries to cement his place in history.

Putin is paranoid about catching COVID, as a result he lives almost in solitary confinement - and have you seen those ludicrous tables he holds meetings at?

There was the one just before the war started when he was filmed meeting with his ministers, the table was about 15-20 feet long, oval ornate, painted white and, I think, gilded, real comic opera stuff. The Minsters were clustered up one end and he was the other.

The second table is as long, if not longer, and very narrow. When I saw it first with 4-6 people sitting opposite each other one end, I though one must be Putin, but then the camera panned up the table, for what looked like hundreds of yards and there, a pinprick on the horizon was Putin.

If anyone doubts that Putin is off his trolley, these two tables prove it..

Why did he manage to sit so close to Imran Khan?

Putin is obviously ill………..is looking very puffy about the face, maybe he is terminally ill………

I don’t know whether he’s terminally ill or not, but (and I would never normally think this) I rather hope he is. The world would be a lot better off without him in it, in my opinion.

DH and I were just discussing the fact that if he dropped dead tomorrow, people all over the world would celebrate.

Its not a nice thought, but its true.

What do we have to do to reach out to the sane people within reach of Putin?

I do wonder whether they are also concerned about his state of mind.

Putin is at war with children': Russian police detain 5 children for laying flowers at Ukrainian embassy

www.wionews.com/world/putin-is-at-war-with-children-russian-police-detain-5-children-for-laying-flowers-at-ukrainian-embassy-458420