LV 254: Initiative, escalation and threshold | Is influence really a strategic function? | Lorgnette: The Court and its warrants

Posted on by A M

Letter from La Vigie, 27 November 2024

Initiative, escalation and threshold

The use by Ukrainian forces of strike capabilities in the Russian depth on 19 November was almost immediately followed by a Russian response using a ballistic missile system. This sequence demonstrates Moscow’s determination to retain the initiative in the field of escalation and to always be in a position to dictate where the threshold for the use of weapons lies, albeit with ever-diminishing options.

To read the article, click here

Is influence really a strategic function?

The last Strategic Review of 2022 elevated influence to the rank of ‘strategic functions’. The concept is not new, and a number of measures had already been put in place. However, the promotion of this function seems to have been the result of the zeitgeist rather than in-depth strategic thinking. Many questions need to be asked if we are to go beyond the mere declaratory effect, which is struggling to convince.

To read the article, click here

Lorgnette: The Court and its warrants

On 21 November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister B. Netanyahu. This is an historic decision, because it undermines the accusation of double standards (LV 232) that had been levelled against the Court and, beyond that, against a justice system that punishes the defeated and the enemies of the West. For a long time, these were African leaders. The indictment of V. Putin in March 2023 showed that a change was possible: but once again, it was an enemy of the Americans and Europeans who was targeted. From this point of view, the indictment of B. Netanyahu constitutes a revolution and gives credibility to the Court, thus rejecting the accusation of two-tier justice.

However, several countries are already opposing this decision, including the United States and Israel, as well as Hungary and Austria. They say that ‘you don’t indict the leaders of a democracy’, but this immediately reintroduces the accusation of double standards, which is becoming increasingly difficult to accept throughout the world.

The French and British leaders reacted with embarrassment, between support for Israel and support for international justice. However, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary should prevail.

Subscribers: click directly on the links to read online or download the pdf issue (here), always with your login/password. New readers: subscribe (discovery subscription €22, annual subscription €85, orga. subscription €400 excl. tax): here, the different options.

Photo credit : Dmitry Terekhov on Visualhunt.com

LV 243: Paris-Warsaw: Prelude or waltz? | A funeral dirge for international law | Lorgnette: the meaning of war

Posted on by A M

Letter from La Vigie, dated 29 May 2024

Paris-Warsaw: Prelude or waltz?

Poland has traditionally had difficulties with its two neighbours, Russia and Germany. The war in Ukraine is reshuffling the cards in its strategic equation and prompting it to take an interest in the new French discourse: is this the prelude to a lasting understanding or just a waltz?

To read the article, click here

A funeral dirge for international law

The decision by Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, to ask for arrest warrants to be issued for Netanyahu and his defence minister has provoked strong reactions in the United States. Based on morality rather than law, they threaten one of the foundations of the international order, justifying in hindsight all the criticism of a law that would only target countries that are not aligned with the United States. If the threats against the ICC materialise, it could be the death knell of international law.

To read the article, click here

Lorgnette: the meaning of war

Soldiers are starting to write: what was still the exception twenty years ago is now becoming commonplace. But let’s take a look at the themes covered in these works: history, ethics or personal accounts, in most cases. In the latter case, the war is described as an experience. The authors show its violence, its injustice and the trauma it caused. France, for example, has been at war for thirty years without realising it, because its soldiers have been under fire (here).

Of course, the reader is left in awe of the examples given, the underlying heroism, and the moral and psychological dimension of war. But they are also bothered by a major omission, that of the political dimension of war. War is not only the work of those who wage it. War has a cause before it has a meaning. It is the work of a society before it is the work of the men who lead it. War is not war because it is an experience, it is war because it is first and foremost a political object. France was not at war because it did not think of itself as being at war. This is, moreover, the criticism we have regularly levelled at recent external operations in which the enemy was not identified.

This confusion remains embarrassing.

JOVPN

Subscribers: click directly on the links to read online or download the pdf issue (here), always with your login/password. New readers: read the article by issue, by clicking on each article (€2.5), or subscribe (discovery subscription €17, annual subscription €70, orga. subscription €300 excl. tax): here, the different options.

Photo credit: europeancouncilpresident on VisualHunt.com