Judging Freedom - Genocide, War Crimes... What Should Be Done?

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

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Yesterday afternoon, President Zelensky of Ukraine referred to the horrors going on at the hands of the Russian soldiers in Ukraine as genocide. And this morning, the president of the United States of America, Joe Biden, restated his view that President Putin of Russia is a war criminal. But this time he called upon the International Criminal Court to put President Putin on trial. Both of these statements were made and caught a great deal of international attention within 24 hours of each other. When we decided to discuss this, we hadn't yet heard what President Biden had said, but it's telling and significant. The scenes on television of the war dead, the slaughtered uh and the butchered uh in the streets of suburbs surrounding uh Kiev the capital of Ukraine are heartbreaking here is President zielinski

yesterday describing his reactions to what he saw when we find people with hands tied behind their back and decapitated, such things I don't understand. I don't comprehend the kids who were killed and tortured. So it wasn't enough just to kill for those criminals. Indeed, this is genocide. Wow. It's tough to watch all of this. I've expressed my view that the American government has no dog in this fight.

I mean, our hearts are broken to watch all this terror and horror on television, but this is essentially a border dispute between Russia and Ukraine, and Ukraine has gone back and forth for hundreds of years as to whether it's part of Russia. This does not affect the national security of the United States. I say it, I re-say it, even though it gets under the skin of a lot of my conservative Republican buddies who are of the view that we should be either enacting a no-fly zone, which would start World War III because you have American jets fighting Russian jets over Ukraine, or it would bring NATO into the war, which would precipitate World War III. That's not the purpose of what we're talking about now. The purpose of what we're talking about now is two statements. President Zelensky, this is genocide. President Biden, these are war criminals.

If soldiers intentionally kill or torture or slaughter civilians. Is that a war crime? Yes, it's a war crime. The only competent tribunal that tries war crimes today is the International Criminal Court in The Hague. That was established by the Treaty of Rome, to which every major country in the world is a signatory except for United States, Russia, Ukraine, two others, China, and North Korea. President Bush decided not to sign and then present that treaty to the Senate for ratification for fear that it might be used against Americans. And that's the problem with Joe Biden calling Vladimir Putin a war criminal. Well, whatever standards he's using, well, then George W. Bush is a war criminal for invading Iraq, lying about it, killing 800,000 people in order to bring about regime change because, quote, Saddam tried to kill my

daddy, close quote. By Biden's standards, Harry Truman is a war criminal for dropping atomic bombs on civilian populations in Japan, knowing that the Japanese government was within days of surrendering in World War II. This is not to rehash history, whether it's World War II or the invasion of Iraq. This is to explain where we are today. The United Nations can establish a war crimes tribunal. The Russia and the Ukraine, and of course, the United States are signatories to the United Nations Charter. But the establishment of such a tribunal would have to pass muster in the Security Council. And the way the Security Council, with its five permanent members, one of which is Russia, is structured, any one of the five can veto it. So it's extremely unlikely that the United Nations is going to set

up a war tribunal. And the International Criminal Court, whose investigators have begun investigating whether Russian soldiers have committed war crimes, claims it has jurisdiction over Ukraine. Under the law, it doesn't. But it does have a rule that it will not try anyone unless the person is in the courtroom. So Russian soldiers are not going to be tried unless they're captured and sent to The Hague. And certainly President Putin is not going to be tried unless somehow he ends up in The Hague. There's no way to know how this is going to end. I understand what President Zelensky said. This is, it does appear to be genocide. I understand what President Biden has said. These are emotional statements. They are not legal statements. Legally, there's not much

that we can do. The Russians will sooner or later run out of steam. Please, Lord, let it happen sooner so more innocent life stays living. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. WGU is an online accredited university that specializes in personalized learning. With courses available 24-7 and monthly start dates, you can earn your degree on your schedule. You may even be able to graduate sooner than you think by demonstrating mastery of the material you know. Make 2025 the year you focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu.