Gallingly, but unsurprisingly, the United States has yet again demonstrated contempt for international law in its response to the latest ruling in the softwood lumber dispute.
The US has repeatedly shown that international law applies only to other nations, not to itself. Got a problem with holding and interrogating prisoners illegally in Guantanamo? Too bad. Maybe you expect an apology for the killing of hundreds of thousands of non-comabatants 60 years ago this week in Japan? Not likely.
In a monopolar world with a lone superpower, only other nations must trade freely. Only other nations can be held to account for war crimes. Only other nations can be prevented from acquiring, testing, stockpiling, and tactically using weapons of mass destruction. Only other nations are thieving, or wrong, or menacing, or evil.
If you're not with the US, you're irrelevant. Or worse: you're fodder.
3 comments:
Sounded just as good on 'As It Happens'.
And you might want to consider the recent announcement that transit passengers in the US have no constitutional rights. While of course that's true (a nation's constitution usually only applies to that nation's citizens), it has ominous undertones. Maher Arar knows this only too well.
I dialed this in to 'Talkback' on As It Happens. You can hear it at around minute 9 of part 1.
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