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Russia’s War Offensive To Rebuild USSR Begins: Quits ICC, Bombs Syria, Will Trump Intervene?

By Hemal Vora
Published on: 22:15 PST, Nov 16, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to formally withdraw from the International Criminal Court. Now Russia will no longer be answerable to the ICC at Hague, a court that passes judgment on cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Putin has issued a decree to ratify the Rome Statute, a treaty which resulted in the establishment of the ICC. Russia had signed the treaty in 2000 but has not ratified it. The US, Israel, and Sudan have already exited from the Rome Statute.

The International Criminal Court was planning to indict Putin over his war crimes in Syria. ICC had recently issued a statement declaring Russia’s presence in Crimea as a military occupation. According to a statement by Russian foreign ministry, the ICC has become ineffective and one-sided, as reported by RT. The statement further read,

“Unfortunately the Court failed to meet the expectations to become a truly independent, authoritative international tribunal.”

The ICC was the first permanent international body which could settle conflicts and pass judgments on allegations of war-crimes. It is worth noting that in the past 14 years the court has pronounced only four judgments and has spent over a billion dollars. South-Africa, Gambia, and Burundi have also withdrawn from the ICC accusing it of being biased.

Donald Trump’s victory has further emboldened both Russia and Syria. President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad said that Trump would be a friend to Syria, Russia, and Iran if he keeps his promises. President-elect Trump believes that Assad is a better ally than the US backed rebels. Trump on Friday had said, he would seek an agreement on Syria.

Meanwhile in Syria, after a relative calm of a few weeks, the bombing raids began recently in the rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo. Reports suggest at least three people have died in the raids. Residents claim 20 bombs have landed on the city and three hospitals bore the brunt of the bombings. Aleppo is not an ISIS stronghold and Russia denies its role in bombing the city.

The War Child Charity believes the US election has distracted the world from the sufferings of the people of Syria. They believe that British Prime Minister Theresa May should put more pressure on Syria and Russia to stop the bombings in Syria, as reported by The Guardian.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and Georgia in 2008 was highly successful as it created the disputed territories of Crimea and Abkhazia which are presently occupied by the Russian soldiers. Both the countries were not a NATO member.

Currently, Russia has the most favorable international environment post the cold-war era. As reported by the Newsweek, with BREXIT the European unity has been fractured and President-elect Donald Trump is likely to look the other way to Russian aggression outside the US borders.

European war chiefs believe that the UK would take at least two years to prepare for a war with Russia. Poland has already deployed 53,000 soldiers to defend against a Russian invasion. Experts believe in an attempt to rebuild USSR, Russia’s next target could be Baltic, which are NATO members, as reported by Dailymail UK.

https://twitter.com/SnapeIsaac/status/796688937817374721

Latvia and Estonia could be the next targets as both the countries have more than 25 percent of a Russian-speaking population. Russia is banking on the fact that NATO would not invoke article V, which gives a guarantee of mutual security. If the organization invokes article V, it would mean a declaration of war on Russia by the NATO members. At that point, Trump would have to decide whether Latvia’s defense would be worth risking a third World War,as reported by Foreign Policy.

It is quite clear that the US President-elect does not consider Russian war aggression as a priority. Trump has already said in interviews that he considers NATO as obsolete and the member countries would be protected only if they contribute their fair share. Trump has also shared his intentions of reducing the number of American soldiers in Europe and saving billions of dollars, as reported by NBC news.

Experts believe Russia is gradually preparing for an all-out war against the west. As reported by Fox News, last month, Moscow held a civilian defense drill. The drill was aimed at preparing the residents of Moscow for an evacuation plan in case of a nuclear strike. There have been reports that Russia is building nuclear safe bunkers to protect its citizens.

Over the last three weeks, Russia has canceled three nuclear deals with the US. As reported by Financial Times, a month ago Russia had moved its nuclear-capable Iskander missiles into Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland. Dmitry Kiselyov, Russia’s unofficial propaganda chief, has warned that clash of US and Russian forces in Syria can escalate quickly and have a nuclear dimension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpF0U7lUVdk

[Featured Image by Mikhail Klimentyev/AP Images]

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