United Nothing?

If social media users around (and like) me seem to have woken up in the last months, its clear Assad has been making civilians’ lives unbearable for years, hoping to see exhausted inhabitants flight or surrender. As we all experience, it is almost impossible to understand what is truly happening on the ground.  All the fighters hiding in the middle of the civilians may not be sincere, neither the liberal democrats continuing the Arab Spring, but innocent people are certainly dying. The United Nations has been the stage for the powerlessness of an ‘international community’ that allows Russia to decide alone the fate of the Syrians. Meanwhile, westerners resemble to an ancient chorus from a Greek tragedy: accompanying events and deploying them. One of the last solutions appears to be The International Criminal Court, as war crimes perpetrated violate the 1949 Geneva’s conventions. It would suffice to deal with war crimes as such – violations of the international law of war resulting in condemnations. But who would commence a legal action against Bashar Al Assad and risk alienating the Russians and others? (Spoiler: no one). We can also forget about ‘red lines’ or succeeding and independent actions such as officials’ visit to Sarajevo.

Norms evolution – At least Russians help their friends

International law and institutions are at an impasse. In such cases the Security Council has been declared dead dozens of times – but here I am more concerned about the consequences of what we are allowing to happen. Aleppo could be the tomb of the UN not only because of the humanitarian crisis but because many norms could collapse. It is not a matter of Arabs but something that concerns us all today, and in our shared future. Beyond moral questioning is the fact that we are returning to a world without rules – where war crime is the norm.

Sovereign states are no longer exempt from moral judgments and thus beside material considerations, governments’ decisions are also influenced by norms that make behavioural claims on them. More than ten years ago, Price was demonstrating how analysis in terms of material capabilities do not explain situations where chemical weapons have not been used although it could have made a difference in outcomes (World War II or the Gulf War). These arms were stigmatized as morally illegitimate and thus constrained states’ behaviour. Today, phosphorus containing organic chemicals are used and children hospitals are being destroyed. What will remind us of our duty of intervention? After Bosnia, it was legitimate to think that the ‘international community’ would never again stand by and watch in silence a massacre. However, it seems that the duty of saving innocents still remains inferior to other political and economical preoccupations (a simple glance at Obama’s choices will support this claim) and that this time there is no more line one could fear crossing.

Dare to know

We are stuck with our indignation. If you feel this way, be satisfied of having flown free from what Žižek calls fetishist disavowal in which ‘ I know very well that things are the way I see them/ that innocents that we have the power to save are dying, but I do not want to know that I know, so I do not know’. It is a common reflex to avoid the consequences of our knowledge in order to continue living as if we did not know. But to let ourselves go to this rational ignorance (as it is true we are rather powerless) would however be abandoning those victims and defying our moral obligations. After having let Putin devastate the capital of Chechnya because it belonged to the Russian Federation, we are now leaving to his hands the second largest city of a country far from Russian borders. How will risk-averse westerners react if the tsar decides one day to take control of some central Europe city by force? This question haunts the minds of the other Europe. Here it seems quite inaudible.

We should stay informed (and yes often be dismayed) and thereby prevent the spread of crimes with no identified and punishable criminals. First of all, if no one pays attention to what happens there, the weight of norms will become even lighter and crimes could get worse. Moreover, people are risking their lives to let the world know what is going on, the least we can do is to listen to them. And finally because if norms do change, I bet we will regret having relished the idea that we are doing what we can by writing useless articles and liking crying children’s photos interposed between 2 Facebook memes. The situation is blocked because many actors share the responsibility for this situation. Lets not be part of them and make the effort to stay informed. I do doubt, but hope, that through a precise identification of causal relations we will find a way of action.