“Cannot strengthen law by violating it” ─ Lavrov

World’s bully must be brought before ICC

Excerpt, editing, commentary by 

Carolyn Bennett

I

f Africa’s leaders can be brought – and with good reason, well-founded reasons, they should be brought − before the International Criminal Court in The Hague; so must the United States’ public officials and leaders be brought before the International Criminal Court notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. has failed to take membership in this international process.   

International Criminal Court
The Hague

Time and again U.S. violent aggression, bullying, extrajudicial abductions and killings have raised the ire of people across the world; yet this global violence has continued with impunity. Last week, the Obama government ordered U.S. commando raids on to the sovereign lands of Libya and Somalia as part of the United States’ politically motivated, expediently executed “War on Terror” and “terrorists”, acts which are clearly to any sane person in breach of both U. S. laws and international laws.

 

Responding to these flagrant acts of aggression, Russia’s foreign minister referenced “good” terrorists and “bad” terrorists – as if in a world in which people and nations operated under the rule of law there could be such nonsensical distinctions. 

The root cause of ten years’ failure to finalize a draft of the comprehensive global convention on counterterrorism, Sergey Lavrov said, lies within the belief of some people that

…those who use terror as the means to achieve their political goals can’t be called terrorists because they are ‘freedom fighters’ −

“We believe,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in interview with RT, “that this [the latest U.S. aggression in Libya and Somalia] is not the way you handle international relations.

“It is not the way you fight criminals ─ even before you prove that they are criminals, before they can testify to any court of law.”

Lavrov said “We would be very much in favor of making sure that we all fight terrorism

…in accordance with our national law ─ if it is our territory ─ and in accordance with international law …

The Foreign Minister recalled “similar dubious cases involving Russian citizens Bout and Yaroshenko, both of whom were ‘basically kidnapped’ by U.S. agents from Thailand and Liberia in violation of local law; and then given big prison sentences for ‘not sufficiently proved’ criminal intent.

Lavrov concluded with words that are abundantly clear to any sane person: “You cannot strengthen the law by violating the law.”

Sources and notes

“Lavrov on U.S. operation in Libya: Countries fighting terrorism should stay within international law,” October 08, 2013 20:32, edited time: October 09, 2013 12:17, http://rt.com/news/international-law-extremists-us-lavrov-905/

RT talked with Lavrov on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Bali.

Sergey Lavrov

Russian diplomat Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (b. March 21, 1950, Moscow) has been Russia’s Foreign Minister since 2004. Before his current position, he was a Soviet diplomat and Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations (1994-2004).

In the early 1970s after his university studies, Lavrov began his career in diplomacy in Sri Lanka as adviser then attaché with the Soviet embassy. Returning to Moscow in 1976, Lavrov returned to Moscow worked as a third and second secretary in the Section for the International Economic Relations of the USSR and was involved in analytics and work with various international organizations including the United Nations. In 1981 he became a senior adviser to the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City. In 1988 Lavrov returned to Moscow and was named Deputy Chief of the Section of the International Economic Relations of the USSR; and between 1990 and 1992 he worked as Director of the International Organization of the Soviet Foreign Ministry. In addition to his native language, Lavrov speaks English, French, and Sinhala.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been described as “‘a tough, reliable, extremely sophisticated negotiator’.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Lavrov

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