International Law & Dictators.

Law should be protection against wrongdoing. Law is only effective if it is enforceable."International Law is the body of legal rules, norms, and standards that apply between sovereign states and other entities that are legally recognized as international actors" - Jeremy Bentham 1748 - 1832. Modern international law now includes individuals & international organisations. "It is a rapidly developing complex of rules and influential—though not directly binding—principles, practices, and assertions coupled with increasingly sophisticated structures and processes...including human rights" - Britannica.

President Putin & dictators like him do not think law of any sort applies to him. In a way he is right. He appears to act with impunity.  

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/has-vladimir-putin-always-been-corrupt-and-does-it-matter      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putin._Corruption  

He is thought to be worth over $200 billion. You don't amass that sort of money as a politician legally. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin 

You have to wonder how dictators justify to themselves the havoc they wreak & the wealth they steal. Their mindset & personality cannot be "normal". That makes dictators very difficult to predict & deal with. Most human beings have a pretty good idea of right from wrong & a societal moral code.

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 member states including the Russian Federation. It is supposed to be the place that "all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity". "The strong preference for consensus often shapes negotiations on a proposal. A formal objection by a single delegation is sufficient to block consensus, every delegate has that power and many try to use it to extract concessions from other delegations". That, in my view makes the UN a "paper tiger". 

The current situation in Ukraine & other places around the world demands action. Populations have a right to protection against aggressors. Talk is not enough. Financial sanctions will not stop innocent people being maimed & killed. Dictators need to know that retribution for human rights violations will follow.

Understandably the US & Europe don't want to get involved with a dirty war & soldiers coming home in body bags. Although there hasn't been a world war in my lifetime, there have been many serious conflicts. The thing that seems obvious to me is that unless we challenge dictatorships effectively, all we do is store up problems that come back to haunt us in other ways than being actively involved in armed conflict.

 

This Ukrainian situation will affect every country in the world in one way or another. If we allow Ukraine to be occupied by Russia the consequences are unthinkable. It will be yet another example, like Assad in Syria, that gives dictatiors the confidence to do anything they like in future. Safe in the knowledge that democratic countries will " huff & puff, but not blow their house down".

If bullies win, everyone loses.