Hey, I’ve never said Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, and the rest of that crew *don’t* belong in The Hague. They grievously misled the public into a disastrous war. If not The Hague, a case for impeachment over this foreign policy disaster would have been strong.
That said, the run-up to Iraq War — as misleading and underhanded as it was — makes Russia’s run-up to the Ukraine War look like a seminar in democracy in action and international law.
Speeches were given at the U.N., votes were taken in Congress, anti-war marches occurred, op-eds were written (pro- and con-), “coalitions of the willing” were assembled, Saddam Hussein was given clear instructions for complying with weapons inspections and given final warnings.
The American people got a say in ‘04, when they re-elected Bush over Kerry. (A mistake, no doubt, but per our democratic choice, it’s an error that we now have to own as a people.)
The American people got a say *again* in ‘08 when they chose anti-war Obama over pro-war Hillary in the primaries, and then chose Obama over McCain in the general election.
Arguably, the Iraq War even affected the ‘16 election, when anti-war Trump prevailed over other “neo-con” GOP primary competitors, and then beat Hillary.
That’s how democracies function. We didn’t get it right, at first pass or even second pass, but we learned. We adapted. It shaped our politics. The experience chastened us.
Let’s just say something very different is happening in Russia. The Russian people don’t have a say or even the chance to express a dissenting view on this war. The Russian parliament is a rubber-stamp. Other parties are Kremlin toadies, true opposition is banned. Russia has no real allies in this other than practically-conquered Belarus, and the anti-American neutrality of other despotic countries like China.
I reject the idea of spheres-of-influence. It’s fuzzy and not a part of international law. You could say Taiwan is within China’s sphere of influence. You could say Vietnam and even Japan are within China’s sphere of influence.
What if they don’t wanna?
Sovereignty is a better principle.
Ukraine in the end belongs to whichever part of the world that Ukrainians decide for themselves. If they choose a future in the E.U. and perhaps one day NATO, then Russia needs to accept that, or else offer Ukrainians a superior choice.
