In an even remotely healthy political system and culture - and everywhere else in the democratic world - January 6 would have been a dealbreaker: The end of Trump as a major political figure. He would have been convicted, shunned, banished - everyone associated with him ostracized from public life.

Und manchmal sliden einem nachts auch irgendwelche Dudes in die DMs

Ich hab ja viele Rückmeldungen zu meinem gestrigen ZiB2-Interview bekommen, aber das ist die schönste

ich mache mir um meine berufliche Zukunft keine Sorgen. Das Völkerrecht ist eine Art gemeinsame Sprache, es erklärt weltpolitische Zusammenhänge, ihre Geschichte und Gegenwart, sensibilisiert kulturell. Es wird daher wichtiger denn je. Das ist für mich gut und für so ziemlich alle anderen schlecht.

"Although the Commission confirmed that any military action against Greenland would activate the EU's mutual assistance clause..., it refused to answer whether it assesses that there's a real risk of the U.S. invading Denmark's overseas territory, calling the case “very theoretical.” January 2025...

I'm old enough to remember that the Benes decrees were a huge topic in Austria as well

"Without a single AMERICAN killed" Dozens of (non-US-) Americans were killed

"The human rights of Venezuelans are not a bargaining chip, or a point to be scored." Important opinion peace by UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk on the Venezuela intervention www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Ich habe gestern in der Zeit im Bild 2 mit @arminwolf.at über Venezuela, Maduro und das Völkerrecht gesprochen. Kürzest mögliche Zusammenfassung: Alles rechtswidrig. Das Völkerrecht ist nicht tot, irgendein Recht gibt es immer. Die Frage ist halt, welches. Hier geht's zur Langfassung 👇

“Under the Constitution, federal judges…hold office for life or until they choose to retire…with a lifetime appointment comes vast power, and as justices increasingly live into their 80s and beyond, that power is lasting longer than ever, especially when compared to the 18th century.” (Source below)

92?!?!

I was about to publish my PhD thesis, it deals with regime change in international law. Then Russia invaded Ukraine to, inter alia, overthrow Zelenskyy, requiring a new chapter. Now the US kidnapped Maduro and I have the feeling I'll never be finished being up to date.

Monroe doctrine, Panama invasion, war on drugs, you name it: Trump's obsession with the past won't lead into a bright future.

fwiw, Maduro would not be the first US prisoner of war without a preceding war: Noriega – who was equally captured in a military operation without congressional aproval – was granted this status in 1992, see below

Dieser Artikel ist falsch. Die Responsibility to Protect erlaubt militärische Gewalt 1) nur bei Völkermord, Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit, Kriegsverbrechen oder ethnischen Säuberungen UND 2) auf Basis eines Mandats des UN-Sicherheitsrats. Ergo: Keine Basis für das Vorgehen in Venezuela

Autsch

Equally applies to Europe

Mafia-Geopolitik: Trump denkt in Einflusssphären. Die Dons, also er, Xi Jinping und Putin, teilen sich das Revier auf. Und Europa? Mein Beitrag für @derpragmaticus.bsky.social ist nach wie vor relevant fürchte ich. www.derpragmaticus.com/r/geopolitik...

In Peru, when Pedro Castillo’s govt fell, the cartels that run organized crime accepted his weakened successor, Dina Boluarte, on one condition: you work for us now. Replace her for Delcy Rodríguez and add US oil barons to the mix and that’s what is happening in Venezuela

Ich bin auf Urlaub und habe jetzt spontan eine Podcastfolge zum Völkerrecht im Zusammenhang mit Trump, Venezuela und Maduro aufgenommen, damit ich weiter meinen Urlaub genießen kann. Morgen geht's nämlich auf den Ätna. Überall, wo's Podcasts gibt und verzeiht mir die schlechte Qualität.

Cc Friedrich "it's complicated' Merz

Same here: The Iraq war got me interested in international law. Not much has changed. The current US government is doing what it can to confirm the global Anti-American bias.

"That is our system: One person decides.” This is not the system the framers had in mind, and it is a dangerous system for all the reasons the framers worried about." Former United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social (under GW Bush) on point

trending on German-speaking Twitter: "Violation of International Law"

“On 20 March 2019 … the conference’s Credentials Committee accepted Maduro’s representative, following the General Assembly’s practice. Out of 159 accredited States, only the United States and Chile disassociated themselves from the ensuing resolution...” Maduro was grudgingly accepted as HoS (!)

It’s not overly complex Mr Merz: You can’t kidnap a foreign leader just because you don’t like him. Article 2/4 UN Charter protects all states and thus their governments, even if they’re led by assholes.

Looks like Avatar 4 is being released sooner than expected

I remember a passage in the US constitution stating that international treaties are part of the law of the land

the Epstein files must be worse than I thought

I wrote about how we have the foreign policy of a personalist dictatorship right before he attacked Iran in June. A consequence of unchecked executive power: more military misadventures. 3/ www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

With that logic China or Iran could indict Trump and then lawfully kidnap him ?

That’s absurd. Simply absurd. You can’t claim self-defence if you’re the aggressor.

“But at lest he’s anti-war”, they said.

Irrelevant. International law looks at factual control. Madura was and is generally considered as head of stage of Venezuela. No justification for Regime change.

Ridiculous. We’re a US vassal.

Nonsense. Head of state immunity is a question of factual control, not of legitimacy. With that line of argumentation 2/3s of all head of states of the world don’t enjoy immunity.

Maduro enjoys absolute immunity as head of state. There is no justification whatsoever to kill or capture him. He didn’t start a war, he isn’t a combatant. Remember how some whined about Ukraine’s alleged strikes on Putin (which never happened)? They would actually have been legally justified.

This is as illegal as it gets. Unlike all of his predecessors (think of Bush and the Iraq war), Trump doesn’t even pretend he cares about international law.

All this violence – against Ukrainians and against Russians themselves – for nothing. Nothing.

Randbemerkung: Das (Rechts-)Gutachten-Unwesen in Österreich ist eine Katastrophe. Ich habe kein Problem mit Gutachten per se, habe selbst schon welche erstellt. Aber es gehört jedes Mal klar ausgewiesen: Wann man es erstellt hat, für wen und wer mitgearbeitet hat (Assistenten sind dafür zB nicht da)

SCOXIT

Herr Rauscher, die Europäer schaffen es nicht einmal, ihre Twitter-/X-Konten zu löschen. Wir haben schon längst verloren.

"Mir geht es, offen gestanden, wie dem amerikanischen Vizepräsidenten J.D. Vance. Auch ich sehe in dieser EU zusehends eine Bedrohung für Europa, eine weit größere Gefahr als China oder Russland." Ich habe Roger Köppels Apologetik gelesen und bin nur noch ratlos, wieso man ihn immer noch hofiert.

we don't deserve better (than being obliterared by AI), after all

Grasser ist einfach ein großartiges Beispiel dafür, dass das Strafrecht nicht hält, was es verspricht. Keine Generalprävention, keine Spezialprävention, viel Spesen, sonst wenig gewesen. www.heute.at/s/geschenk-z...

The Gaza war isn't over. Even although we in the West collectively pretend it is because we don't want to confront ourselves with the reality of what one our close allies did and does.

I really don't want to be Franz Kafka

Quite revealing if a state declares Doctors Without Borders is its enemy. Israel's far-/extreme-right government has lost its moral compass. It probably never had one.

"Putin was very generous in his feeling towards Ukraine succeeding", as Donald J Trump said just yesterday. news.un.org/en/story/202...

ich hab gerade versucht, bei Thalia ein Buch umzutauschen. Ging nicht, weil es nicht mehr nagelneu aussieht. Fair enough, ich weiß nicht, ob es beim Kauf so ausgesehen hat oder beim Transport lädiert wurde. Aber es ist halt kein Wunder, wenn die Leute Amazon bevorzugen, da gibt's nie Probleme.