AFTER six months of Israeli annihilation of Gazans, an overwhelming question needs asking.
Is there such a thing as international law? Yes, there is, but only to be used and abused by the dominant West. After all, the post-1945 so-called rules-based world order was the invention of the victors of World War 2.
It was a premeditated divide of winners and losers, which deplorably has come to mean a split between the mighty and the meek. This is reflected in how international law is treated by the superpowers. When international law serves their geopolitical interests, they use it and when it doesn't, they abuse it.
Start with how the West uses international law to serve its geopolitical interests. The United States, with Britain and the European Union in tow, never ceases to accuse China of committing genocide against the Uighurs, the Muslim minority in Xinjiang.
Note how quickly Washington, London and Brussels employ the "G" word against Beijing and just as quickly they deflect any and all charges of genocide against Israel. This despite the International Court of Justice, the world's highest legal institution, provisionally ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza.
Not to mention prominent legal minds around the world stating very clearly that Israel is indeed committing genocide. Blessedly, in these muddied times, there are a few lawmakers across Europe and the US fighting to resuscitate international justice.
What the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is clearly genocide. How else do you describe it if not call it genocide, even more so given the statements of genocidal intent by Israeli cabinet members followed by the slaughter of more than 33,000 Gazans, mostly women and children? Ukraine is another theatre where the Western powers are using international law to pursue their geopolitical ends.
Because of the push and shove of Washington, Brussels and London, the International Criminal Court rushed to issue arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals. Note that there hasn't been a single arrest warrant issued against the Ukrainians, the ICC take being Kyiv has fought a humane war. This is far from the truth. Know this. We condemn the killing or injuring of any civilian or the bombing of civilian targets. No exceptions here.
If the use of international law by the West is bad enough, its abuse is worse. The invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies remains one of the most shameful violations of international law. There was no authorisation by the United Nations Security Council.
How could it when the invasion was based on a lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction? Yet, he was hanged for being innocent of the lie, while those who were responsible for his death and the deaths of tens of thousands of other Iraqis trot the Earth with the swagger of the high and mighty. They did the same to Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Gaza and got away. The mighty have been wrong so long that they think that they are right.
Make no mistake. We have come not to bury international law, but to raise it so that it can dispense justice.
