Taliban, take note

April 14, 2001 4:41 AM

Taliban, take note A silly charge for vengeance or a global desire for ethical and moral justice?
posted by Postroad (2 comments total)

At the risk of sounding pro-Milosevic (which I'm certainly not), how come Yugoslavia is the sole country lucky enough to be the recipient of international justice?

I'm certainly in favour of international law but it seems to only be meted out to the vanquished. I can think of a number of countries that should also be in the dock.
posted by lagado at 5:16 AM on April 14, 2001

lagado, check out the ICJ's docket. Lockerbie, Gulf War, border disputes, and yes, some countersuits by Yugoslavia against the West. This necessarily doesn't count all the trade disputes that are arbitrated by the WTO. It's just that the genocide cases get all the press.

(Also, that there is a special court to hear them all: the International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia.)

And I hardly think it's a coincidence that genocide court cases are from the same country that was "vanquished" -- in fact, I'd be disturbed if there wasn't some sort of international vanquishing operation to stop it in the short term, as well as the court cases for the long term. It's more disturbing when we do nothing. If we won't intervene, at least we can use all the powers of modern investigative techniques to find the individuals responsible and force them to answer for their actions. Even if it's just bombing a couple of old buildings.
posted by dhartung at 10:24 AM on April 14, 2001