Russian opposition leader #AlexeiNavalny was poisoned by the #Kremlin with a lethal toxin derived from the skin of poison dart frogs, 5 European countries said Saturday.
The foreign ministries of the #UK, #France, #Germany, #Sweden & the #Netherlands said analysis of samples from #Navalny, who died 2 years ago, “have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.”
[...] Francesca Albanese’s detractors—those seeking to shield Israel from her legitimate criticism by forcing her resignation—fail to understand one fundamental truth: she will never stop exposing them. Whether she remains the UN Special Rapporteur or not, Francesca will continue to document Israel’s crimes with the same legal rigor and moral clarity. My message to them is unequivocal: removing her from her position will not silence the truth; it will only amplify it.
Attempts to discredit or remove Albanese are not just futile but counterproductive, as her work transcends institutional roles. She meticulously documents Israel’s violations of international law (findings that align with #ICJ rulings, #ICC investigations, and reports from human rights organizations.) The coordinated pushback against her is not about her credibility, but an effort to shield Israel from accountability. As Varoufakis observes, these smear campaigns expose deeper political and economic interests: arms sales, diplomatic protection, and the normalization of occupation.
So the pattern is familiar: when legal scrutiny threatens Israel’s impunity, the response is not engagement but attempts to silence those who investigate. The occupation itself (illegal under international law) undermines any claim to self-defense, yet it persists with impunity.
#InternationalLaw#Australia#GenocideConvention#RomeStatute #HerzogVisitToAustralia2026
:blob_cat_ohnoes:
"Australia is a party to the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute. These treaties impose a clear legal duty to prevent and punish genocide, obligations which are reflected in Australian domestic law. Hosting President Herzog without investigation or accountability risks placing Australia in breach of its international and domestic obligations and undermines the global fight against impunity for the gravest crimes. He must be investigated under Australia’s Commonwealth Criminal Code."
Marco Rubio: "The oil proceeds are being deposited into an account that ultimately will become a US Treasury blocked account here in the US. We will say 'this is what this money can be spent on.' They will submit to us a budget request -- 'we want to use the money on these things.!'"
⚖️ Judgment in Case C-271/23 Commission v Hungary:
Can a Member State vote against an EU common position at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the ground that it considers that position unlawful?
"What sparked Carney’s intervention was not Sudan, Venezuela or Gaza. It was the US threat to Canada and Greenland.
A western prime minister took umbrage only when the US, under President Donald Trump, threatened to treat the prosperous West in the same way it has long treated the Global South.
Let’s return now to Israel’s recent invasion of Unrwa’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem: a gross breach of international law and a direct attack on the United Nations.
Article 6 of the UN charter establishes that any state that persistently violates its principles can be expelled from the UN. The attack on Unrwa is part of a pattern of Israel’s criminal hostility towards the UN, including its refusal to respect orders from the International Court of Justice on Gaza, its slaughter of UN aid workers and its regular attacks on UN positions in southern Lebanon.
The case for expelling - or at the very least suspending - Israel from the UN is overwhelming. Yet neither Carney’s Canada nor Starmer’s Britain, nor any other western power, has so much as suggested the idea.
In his Davos speech, Carney set out Canada’s approach as follows: “We aim to be principled and pragmatic. Principled in our commitment to fundamental values: sovereignty and territorial integrity, the prohibition of the use of force except when consistent with the UN Charter, respect for human rights. Pragmatic in recognising that progress is often incremental, that interests diverge, that not every partner shares our values.”
This is all well and good. But on the evidence so far, Carney is prepared to be principled when it comes to western countries like Canada and Denmark, and pragmatic when it comes to Palestine and Venezuela.
Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland, a message that came as a Congressional delegation met Danish & Greenlandic lawmakers in Copenhagen & sought to lower tensions.
#Trump for months has insisted that the US should control #Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of #NATO ally #Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be “unacceptable.”
“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland,” he said Friday, without providing details. “We need Greenland for national security.”
Convicted felon and suspected pedophile says: ‘I don’t need international law’: Trump says power constrained only by ‘my own morality’ - and, of course when it comes to morality, he has none. Cancelling USAID has already killed children in 3rd world countries; cancelling scientific research here at home will kill more. His attack on SNAP benefits drives more into poverty and hunger; and, his new gestapo, #ICE is murdering soccer moms. A toxic narcissist who believes himself to be an infallible supreme leader has no ethics or morality - only self-interest and personal gain. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/trump-power-international-law#USPol#USPolitics#InternationalLaw#ForeignPolicy#Republicans
After the abduction of Venezuela's President by the US (although not always being called that), many here have been wondering about the status of international law (IL).
The quick answer is that international law is conventional - that is, states abide by it conventionally & often seek to justify when they don't, but for the most part obey its tenets out of self-interest.
The Q. now is: how much damage can IL sustain before its conventions fully collapse & what then happens?
Cartoon: King Trump (with a crown) sits at his desk with a globe indicating future targets, and the FIFA Peace prize, while an aide says: 'We're all for a rule based order - just his rules based on his orders'
'I'm a man without conviction
I'm a man who doesn't know
How to sell a contradiction
You come and go, you come and go
Keir-a, Kier-a, Kier-a, Keir-a, Keir-a chameleon'
And that's me being polite about our PM's inability to get on & condemn the widening rupture in the international was being made by the Tangerine Tyrant in Venezuela....
Maduro & his wife were escorted by armed officers at the detention center in Brooklyn shortly after 7AM EST & led to a helicopter, video from WABC showed. The pair were wearing tan prison suits & arrived at the NY federal courthouse shortly before 8AM EST.
"By a 4:1 ratio, polls show the American people oppose the use of military force for regime change in Venezuela — including the strike that led to Maduro’s capture over the weekend."
"This is nuts. Trump is already on his way to destroying the rule of law in America. Now he’s destroying the rules-based system of international law and diplomacy that the United States created in the wake of the horrors of World War II."
"Now, as the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, is in essence abducted and Venezuela taken over by the US, there is barely any effort to situate the coup in any reasoning other than the US’s interests. Nor are there any attempts to solicit consent from domestic or international law-making bodies and allies, let alone the public."
"The days of the US trying to convince the world that Saddam Hussein did in fact have weapons of mass destruction despite secretly having no reliable intelligence were, in fact, the good old days. ...
There is little to no effort to make reasonings for the takeover cohere."
If Trump ordered his military to kidnap Mark Carney, Prime Minister of
Canada, would they do so? Would Sir Keir Starmer wait to hear all the
facts, then fold and back Trump?
The Venezuela strike was not a “law enforcement action.” It was an unauthorized military operation, dressed up in legalese and staged from behind curtains at Mar-a-Lago instead of a SCIF.
I’ve laid out what really happened and why it should terrify anyone who believes in the rule of law.