[Peace-discuss] Daniel Kovalik: Why Russia's intervention in Ukraine is legal under international law

[J.B. Nicholson]

https://www.rt.com/russia/554166-international-law-military-operation-ukraine/ 
Kovalik explains his argument, citing and quoting his sources along the way, and 
concludes:

> To remove any doubt that the destabilization of Russia itself has been the goal of
> the US in these efforts, one should examine the very telling 2019 report[1] of the
> Rand Corporation – a long-time defense contractor called upon to advise the US on
> how to carry out its policy goals. In this report, entitled, ‘Overextending and
> Unbalancing Russia, Assessing the Impact of Cost-Imposing Options’, one of the
> many tactics listed is “Providing lethal aid to Ukraine” in order to “exploit
> Russia’s greatest point of external vulnerability.”
> 
> In short, there is no doubt that Russia has been threatened, and in a quite
> profound way, with concrete destabilizing efforts by the US, NATO and their
> extremist surrogates in Ukraine.  Russia has been so threatened for a full eight
> years. And Russia has witnessed what such destabilizing efforts have meant for
> other countries, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria to Libya – that is, nearly a
> total annihilation of the country as a functioning nation-state.
> 
> It is hard to conceive of a more pressing case for the need to act in defense of
> the nation. While the UN Charter prohibits unilateral acts of war, it also
> provides, in Article 51, that “[n]othing in the present Charter shall impair the
> inherent right of individual or collective self-defense... ”  And this right of
> self-defense has been interpreted[2] to permit countries to respond, not only to
> actual armed attacks, but also to the threat of imminent attack.
> 
> In light of the above, it is my assessment that this right has been triggered in
> the instant case, and that Russia had a right to act in its own self-defense by
> intervening in Ukraine, which had become a proxy of the US and NATO for an assault
> – not only on Russian ethnics within Ukraine – but also upon Russia itself. A
> contrary conclusion would simply ignore the dire realities facing Russia.



[1] https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10014.html
[2] https://www.un.org/law/counsel/Bethlehem%20-%20Self-Defense%20Article.pdf