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Msg ID: 2746692

Maybe The Donald could phone his BFF Putin and suggest that America could +4/-0

Author:TheCrow
10/11/2022 6:16:47 PM

Maybe The Donald could phone his BFF Putin and suggest that America could take a serious interest in investigating Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian civilians as a war crime with Putin, the Russian commander in chief as responsible?

No- that could possibly fail, which Trump can't ever be guilty of- a loser, imperfect and weak. It's better for Trump to let President Biden, America look ineffective and disinterested.

Who comes into Putin's sights after Ukraine?

UN: Russian Missile Attacks on Ukraine’s Civilian Targets Could Amount to War Crimes

October 11, 2022 10:19 AM

Lisa Schlein

Police inspect and document the scene of a Russian missile strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 10, 2022.

Police inspect and document the scene of a Russian missile strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 10, 2022.

GENEVA — The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says missile attacks by Russia’s armed forces against civilian targets and infrastructure across several cities in Ukraine Monday could amount to war crimes.

The U.N. reports Russian attacks on nearly a dozen cities including Kyiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia, have killed at least 20 civilians and injured more than 100.

U.N. monitors say the series of attacks appears to have been coordinated. They say the location and timing of the strikes when people were commuting to work and taking children to school is particularly shocking.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said critical civilian infrastructure, including at least 12 energy facilities, were targeted. She noted some of these facilities may be indispensable for the survival of the civilian population just ahead of the cold winter months.

“We have seen the story of elderly people trapped in their homes. People with disabilities were also unable to flee. I mean, this is unconscionable,” she said. “We have to stress that intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives, amounts to a war crime.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the missile attacks were in retaliation for what he called a terrorist blast that destroyed parts of a bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

Shamdasani said Russian-targeted attacks have destroyed or damaged many residential buildings and key power stations. She warned that the lack of a steady supply of energy to stave off the winter cold will likely put the lives of particularly vulnerable people at risk.

“We urge the Russian Federation to refrain from further escalation, and to take all feasible measures to prevent civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure,” she said.

Shamdasani noted that the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine will keep tabs on the evolution of the war in Ukraine. She said the mission will continue to corroborate civilian casualties resulting from these attacks and document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law throughout the country.

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Msg ID: 2746693	Richard Cohen: Ukraine carries the echoes of Sudetenland +3/-0
Author:TheCrow 10/11/2022 6:20:02 PM Reply to: 2746692	>Richard Cohen: Ukraine carries the echoes of Sudetenland By Richard Cohen March 10, 2014 Pardon the cliche, but I think we have come upon a teachable moment. I am referring to the crisis in Ukraine and what it teaches us, not just about the future but also about the past. Vladimir Putin has turned us all into Neville Chamberlain. The umbrella, please. Chamberlain is famous for the Munich Agreement and his statement that, by acquiescing to Hitler’s demands, he had brought Britain and Europe “peace for our time.” He and the French gave Hitler the Sudetenland, which was the name applied to the substantially German areas of what was then Czechoslovakia. Hitler was a monster, but in this case his argument had a superficial appeal: Germans, he contended, ought to be in Germany. What complicates matters is that we now know — indeed, we soon learned — that for Hitler the Sudetenland represented mere batting practice. He was soon to invade Poland and much of the rest of Europe, faltering only when he disregarded the bitter lesson Napoleon learned and plunged into Russia. It was a very cold winter. Putin is demanding for Crimea more or less what Hitler wanted for the Sudetenland: Russians ought to be in Russia. No doubt the Crimean Russians agree and, come Sunday, will vote accordingly. That would place a patina of democracy — or at least self-determination — over what is essentially a power grab, but it will be hard to argue that the Crimean Russians aren’t getting the government they want, if not the one they deserve. So we can see — can’t we? — that Chamberlain was not such a noodle after all. He certainly appeased Hitler. But the Western world — needing Russian gas for Germany, Russian rubles for London flats — over time probably will do the same with Putin. Just as we — especially our European brethren — can see the logic of Putin’s demands, so could Chamberlain appreciate that the Sudeten Germans might be on the wrong side of the border. Hitler’s homicidal anti-Semitism, among other character blemishes, bothered them not a bit. No one’s perfect, after all. This teachable moment has many students. Around the world, there are nations that suffer the grievous loss of this or that strip of land, even worthless rocky islands in the middle of nowhere. What have they learned? I hope it’s not that the rest of us have learned nothing. Read more from Richard Cohen’s archive.
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