The White House says it is preparing additional “major sanctions” on Russia in response to opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death last week in an Arctic penal colony.
Why should anyone care about legal obligations to Russia? A country that invades its neighbors is not operating within the realm of law and should not benefit from legal protections.
“It’s complicated” is a non-answer. How, specifically, do Western countries benefit from honoring agreements with a country that is currently threatening them with nuclear weapons?
If I owe money to a someone who murders my neighbor and then threatens to murder me and all my other neighbors, I’m never going to pay him no matter what I agreed to in the past. That goes double if the murderer is also a broke alcoholic who spends all his money on weapons.
Why should anyone care about legal obligations to Russia? A country that invades its neighbors is not operating within the realm of law and should not benefit from legal protections.
Because geopolitics is a hard problem that ends up being unfair by nature.
“It’s complicated” is a non-answer. How, specifically, do Western countries benefit from honoring agreements with a country that is currently threatening them with nuclear weapons?
If I owe money to a someone who murders my neighbor and then threatens to murder me and all my other neighbors, I’m never going to pay him no matter what I agreed to in the past. That goes double if the murderer is also a broke alcoholic who spends all his money on weapons.