Robin Hood wrote:Garavnoss wrote:Oh!, has "WAR" been declared ?, sorry, I didn't know.
That was the title of the thread and I didn't chose that! Is it war? Yes, but is it a 'legal' war ..... NO! I was under the impression that the whole scenario in ALL of the regions of conflict in the Middle Eastern regions [and elsewhere] are the culmination of Western aggression subsequent to the unlawful and deadly attacks by the Yanks upon the innocent sleeping nation of Iraq....{do you not recall ?].
I agree and YES I remember both of them. The first had a UN mandate and was legal, in that context, but the second war was not legal as there was no mandate and no invitation, it was a US declared war.I think we should be ashamed of ourselves if we are able to accept that the situations in the aforementioned regions are acceptable, even under the guise of "WAR" which is so obviously code for indicating that the West intends to continue it's destructive ambitions in so many places regardless of the sufferings of the multitudes of innocent civilians affected by it all.
I agreeAs to the offensive language, I entirely agree BUT, kindly direct your comment to the resident offender, I think you will find that in every case, HE is the instigator and has proven himself [time and again] to be incapable of polite disagreement.
"Fight fire with fire" is the only answer to him, his filth is a contaminant and unfortunately seems to have rubbed off on me.
I'm no Christian but try turning the other cheek or use caustic sarcasm!
Coalition action in Iraq against DAESH is NOT illegal. That is undeniable.
Coalition action in Syria, is also not illegal. Claims that it is are very sketchy to say the least and without legal basis. What is certain is that the UN Charter has provided legal grounds and a foot to stand on as far as Coalition military involvements in Syria are concerned in the present form of that military action.
I will explain (try to anyway with my limited legal background) ...
Article 2.4 signed in 1945 states that UN Members will not use force against another State. The Coalition has not used force against the State of Syria.
It also states that Members must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States. Well no action thus far has indicated that the coalition does not respect the territorial integrity of Syria. The territory of Syria however, could be subject to partition by International Treaty if Assad remains in power. That means, that Syria will be carved up and other States will be formed with population exchanges.
http://www.un.org/en/sc/repertoire/prin ... shtml#rel2Also, there are mandated rules by the UN which do not prohibit Military Action through what is termed as "collective-defence" under UN Article 51.
Article 51
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.http://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charte ... index.htmlNow, the coalition is in the Middle East to assist the Iraqi Government to maintain its territorial integrity against terrorist Islamist Organisations such as DAESH. This terrorist group use Syria as their Spring Board. Therefore, we have expanded our operations into Syria under collective-defence rules. This has now even more credibility since the USA, France and Australia have all been attacked by DAESH on their own territory.
Please note, that the absence of a UN Security Council resolution does not automatically imply that this action under Article 51 (which is what the Coalition will imply if attacked) makes that action illegal, because the Article itself implies that States do have a right for "collective-defence".
Of course, these Articles are written to outline the rules for Military Action of member States against another State. Well DAESH is not a State so that adds an element of ambiguity to the equation. Also, the Coalition is NOT engaged in any Military Action against Syria. So again, there are no legal grounds. This is uncharted territory because in 1945 when these Articles were written, it was not envisaged that the new threats to peace and stability will be from illegal terrorist organisations like DAESH and as a result, the Articles were written for State Vs State military engagements which this is clearly not the case in Syria.
However, there was an ICJ Ruling interpreting the Rights of Nations to invoke individual or collective self defence. Please see the below link. Here the ruling stipulates that the Article does not stipulate the types of aggressors, whether that is a State or a Terrorist Organisation. As a result, let's say there was a terrorist organisation in Cyprus attacking Australia. Well, Australia would have the right to attack that organisation within Cypriot Sovereign territory. That can in itself include Air Strikes and Troops on the Ground (Invasion) as long as there is an intention to respect Sovereign Territorial Integrity after the fact or until the UN takes control and there is a UN invoked settlement to bring peace and stability which also addresses Australia's security concerns with regard to this Terrorist Group (I use this example for illustrative purposes only).
Some more interesting reading for you here:
http://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charte ... index.htmlSorry, but saying that coalition action is illegal does not make it so under the letter of the UN Articles. I had to learn about all this stuff at one time.
Again, you need to look at your clearing house source and do some cross checking over the validity of their erroneous claims which have no legal standing at all.
Also, make no mistake about it! Each member of the Coalition has a team of some of the best International Experts, Lawyers available who would have on behalf of their Governments provided very sound interpretation and advice regarding their legal standing concerning their Military Engagements and as a result they do certainly have a leg to stand on and based on my interpretation and the interpretations of more knowledgeable experts, there is no specific Article that categorically implies that Coalition Action in Syria is illegal which probably explains the lack of formal legal engagements within the UN or ICJ against us.
So all we get is a bunch of hubris from very bias and anti western media outlets, like the ones you like.
here is another interesting read for you:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-18/i ... ck/6765386