Thread by @Rail_splitter1

The pathetic absurdity of the Russian state. In the case Ukraine vs. Russian Federation in the International Court of Justice, Ukraine has argued that Russia’s invasion is unlawful because it was predicated on the alleged need to stop “the genocide against the people of Donbas.”

This claim, if true, might provide an exception to the UN Charter’s prohibition against armed violation of a state’s sovereignty. In other words, if a genocide in the Donbas were really occurring, Russia’s invasion to stop it might be lawful. Of course, the claim is false.

And this false claim of genocide necessarily involves the Genocide Convention of the UN. This case, if it proceeds, would compel Russia to disclose all evidence for such genocide.

So devastating is this prospect for Russia that it is fighting tooth and nail to have the case dismissed. Russia has paid a small army of Western lawyers who are this very moment in The Hague subjecting logic to torture worse than that of the Inquisition against heretics.

To prevent the case from proceeding, Russia’s desperate gamble is to argue that the court has no jurisdiction because the Genocide Convention does not apply because… there has been no genocide.

Let me slow down. This case does not even enter the question of Russia’s genocide against Ukrainians. It is about the claim that Ukraine committed genocide against ethnic Russians, which Russia used as a justification for its full invasion.

And to prevent that from being examined, Russia’s strategy is to argue that since there was no genocide here, there is no case. Russia is voluntarily destroying its own claims because it knows that these claims will be destroyed later, but in detail and under great scrutiny.

Russia is banking on having this case dismissed on “jurisdictional” grounds after it has admitted its lies but done so within the legal jargon of its lawyers. It is hoping few will notice and even fewer will understand what has happened.

What Russia fears is its lies being unravelled slowly and in great detail, especially in subsequent opinions written by the Court itself. I’m familiar with the work of some of the current judges and I trust they will not fall for such brazen attempts to manipulate the law.