Ukraine is building a Hague tribunal for Putin, Lukashenko, and Russia’s top leadership — while demanding over $1T in reparations from Russia.
Iryna Mudra, deputy head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office: “Accountability is not a subject of bargaining in peace talks,” EP. 1/
Russia repeatedly demanded immunity.
During talks in 2022 and in its recent 28-point “peace plan,” Moscow pushed for lifting sanctions, ending court cases, and granting amnesty for Russian leadership and war crimes. 2/
Tribunal moves from politics to implementation. Council of Europe ministers will finalize legal creation of the court in Chisinau on May 14-15. It will operate in Hague.
Kasparov: Putin is paranoid, but his fears are real. Russian history shows that bad wars lead to massive change, sometimes revolution.
If a war goes well, the public never cares about the price of victory. But bad, unwinnable wars are what bring regimes down. 1/
Kasparov: The war against Ukraine began with a consensus that Russia would win easily. Now it looks unwinnable.
Even pro-war bloggers are expressing doubts that Putin can deliver, and for a dictator that is the greatest danger: people start believing he is weak. 2/
Kasparov: May 9 is a sacred date for Putin. It is what made Russia feel great.
So for him to cut the parade down now, with no tanks, is already a sign of weakness. Soviet and Russian rulers always tried to capitalize on World War II victory. 3/
Gen. Hertling: These [recent Iranian attacks on merchant shipping and US naval vessels] are more than random incidents.
So yes, it does look like a violation of the ceasefire, and Trump clearly does not want to go back to kinetic operations. 1/
Hertling: I do not think the Navy can personally escort hundreds, maybe up to 2,000 ships, out of the Strait.
The real task is clearing lanes, finding where Iran laid mines, and moving ships without creating dense targets for Iranian missiles and drones. 2/
Hertling: Trump’s dismissal of the public is staggering. Congress and the American people have to be brought together before America’s sons and daughters are put in harm’s way.
You cannot fight a war with weak support and then wave it away by saying the polls are fake. 3/
Rubio: Iran has always said it does not want a nuclear weapon. They just do not mean it.
They keep doing the things countries do when they want one: building long-range missiles, hiding enrichment in mountains and caves, and keeping parts of the program secret. 1/
Rubio: Iran kept highly enriched uranium at 60%, and that has no civilian use.
If all it wanted was a civilian nuclear program, it could do what many other countries do: import enriched material instead of hiding domestic enrichment underground. 2/
Rubio: A real diplomatic path now means Iran must prove at the front end what it is actually willing to negotiate and what concessions it will make.
No one needs a full agreement tomorrow, but talks are worthless if Tehran still acts like it wants a military nuclear program. 3X
Rubio: Nearly 23,000 civilians from 87 countries are trapped in the Gulf and left for dead by the Iranian regime.
For more than two months, innocent sailors and commercial crews have been stranded at sea by Iran’s desperate, destructive blockade of Hormuz. 1/
Rubio: At least 10 civilian sailors have already died.
Many nations have asked the US to free their ships and restore freedom of navigation in Hormuz, so Trump ordered the military to guide stranded vessels to safety and create a protective bubble. 2X