[lbo-talk] now he tells us........

Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at yahoo.com
Thu Sep 16 07:26:09 PDT 2004


James said: "Calling international law 'law' is a bit forced anyway. There are customs and practices and treaties, but there is no general will and no enforcer at the global level. Simply proclaiming acts illegal has no moral or legal force in international relations."

Maybe no legal force... but look at today's newspapers. Kofi made them jump, the Bush administration and Howard in Australia are livid, and accusing Annan of attempting to influence the respective national elections . I detect "moral" forces at work.

Whatever moral means...

[begin signature] "We believe that your way of life itself is unnecessary, ugly, and un-American. We cannot condone your present operations; they should be wiped off the slate." -- Paul Goodman, Speaking to the National Security Industrial Association, October 1967

Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at yahoo.com

----- Original Message ----- From: james at communistbanker.com To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 2:27 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] now he tells us........

Thoughts on Annan interview:

1) This wasn't an unplanned outburst. The UN has been on the sidelines. After the Cold War there were high profile debates about the UN's role, German/Japanese seats on the Security Council, etc. Now no one seems to care much, and the US is doing its own thing. Annan is taking on the language of America's critics to bolster the UN's authority. This suggests that he is trying to cohere a relationship between the UN and critics of US unilateralism - Europe, the South, the Arab world - and NGOs, US multilateralists etc. But it's a surprising move from what is ostensibly an association of (almost) all nations.

2) There is nothing progressive in this. It is easy to imagine circumstances in which the UN would have given approval to invading Iraq. This wouldn't make it right, and if progressives endorse legalism in international relations, they make it harder to oppose 'legal' invasions.

3) Calling international law 'law' is a bit forced anyway. There are customs and practices and treaties, but there is no general will and no enforcer at the global level. Simply proclaiming acts illegal has no moral or legal force in international relations.

--James

James Greenstein

--- "Leigh Meyers" <leighcmeyers at yahoo.com> wrote: Kofi Annan alluded to the illegality of the invasion of Iraq early in the conflict and the western news media buried it with "war stories" ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list