Ok, so maybe let me explain a little why I think this matters here. First I will note the USSR was always part of the UN, and it was important that it was. Not because it was a good country that respected its neighbors, but because there needed to be that venue to work with them and mediate disputes. The problem is that Russia has stopped respecting it. Plainly for international law to work countries need to care about what the UN says.
And as far as that goes, I think it makes a huge difference whether Russia is punished because imperialism is wrong or because imperialism is reserved for America. Because there was a huge breach of international law just twenty years ago, when the US decided to invade Iraq on a phone pretext without needing UN approval. Which, you know, killed thousands and destabilized the entire region, but of course nobody has ever been held to account, and if anyone ever tries that’s a reason to invade the Netherlands too.
I know that seems like a while ago but it’s not and it plainly matters to other countries. First, of course, Russia. That’s not to claim at all NATO somehow made him invade Ukraine…that’s nonsense. But I do think it’s notable that they’ve modeled all their pretexts after it. Of course we can invade Ossetia on our own, those are the rules now, you said so.
And it seems like other countries do listen. At least my understanding is a good number of them outside NATO haven’t been that interested in embargoing Russia in part because really, it doesn’t seem that different to them. Empires gonna empire, apparently, and why should they care about this one instead of the other?
So while I genuinely want Russia to be stopped, I worry that would make kicking them out of the UN look like it selectively enforces international law on behalf of the US. And that wouldn’t restore its prestige and international law at all – it would ruin it. I mean, why would Russia or China or Iran or Brazil or anyone agree to follow a “rules-based” system if it looks like that’s just America calling the shots?
