I haven’t really been keeping up to date with the situation between Russia and the Ukraine, but I was very impressed with the article “The Ukraine crisis through the whimsy of international law: Money and hard power count, and that’s that” by Neil Macdonald. Neil begins his argument expressing his disbelief while listening to President Barack Obama speaking about world opinion and obeying international law. Neil points out that Barack Obama is the president of a country who operates a prison camp in Cuba despite Cuban protest, who shoots drones at other countries with no care to killing innocent victims. He argues that as the western countries continue to denounce Putin, they are in fact just hypocrites. “what Putin is doing is really no different from what other world powers do: protecting what they regard as national self-interest.”

Neil goes on to argue that Ukraine has very strong ties to the Russia and despite some of Ukraine’s citizens, the country does not belong culturally, emotionally nor politically to Europe – as suggested y European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. MacDonald continues by explaining that many believe there is a possibility for economic sanctions however, feasibly, that would be difficult because that itself would not only hurt Russian but also European Economies. Neil ends his article explaining how delusional people are if they believe that all countries abide by international law and want to live in a fair and just world. Neil ends with, “We must at least pretend there’s international and basic rules, because it reassures us that we live in a world where raw power doesn’t ultimately rule.”
I found this article, like many others commented, to be surprisingly honest and straightforward. In today’s media/news sites we are given information and facts that compliment the sources opinions. No longer do we read articles of pure straight fact, we now read them with hints of opinions and suggestions smuggled within in order to convince us to agree. While that is a clever writing technique, it is not always the honest fact, nor is an un-biased balance reported from both sides. In most cases, news articles from the west regarding western politics and politicians against foreign politics and politicians tend to favour the west, and often refuse to point out any flaws. Neil MacDonald was able to write a factual and honest article explaining the hypocrisy that revolves around Western politicians condemning Putin. His closing paragraphs explain that while people like to believe that International Law has some control, in all actuality, with no one to police the situation, world powers are capable of breaking these ‘international laws’ for their own self-interest.

While I myself am one of those people who would love to believe that International Law held some influential authority, able to dominate even the strongest of world powers, I know it is unable to. In addition, I would like to point out that I do not believe Putin is in the right, and he should not be allowed to push its way into Crimea, I find it is a refreshing reminder that western powers remember they themselves are not innocent of crimes such as these. It is difficult for countries that have committed very similar crimes to have any credible authority to condemn others from doing it. Neil MacDonald wrote a very important article reminding people that one cannot judge another, unless they themselves are innocent.