Month: March 2025

Today, April 1, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a nationally-televised speech that he was withdrawing all Russian troops from Ukraine.

He explained that after he went to church to pray for Donald Trump, following the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13, 2024, he had begun to think of his own mortality and of his relationship with God.

Over the course of many months and conversations with Patriarch Kirill (Cyril and other high prelates of the Russian Orthodox Church, he had slowly come to understand that to kill innocent civilians in Ukraine was wrong and a major sin against God’s will.

A leader with such sins on his conscience, if not forgiven, would not be admitted to Heaven, he came to believe.

Putin began to earnestly study the Bible, including the New Testament and the Ten Commandments. He had not studied these texts since before he joined the KGB after his university studies.

A lawyer by training, Putin began to review the texts of the U.N. Charter and human rights treaties to which Russia was a party. He had not read these texts either, if ever, since before joining the KGB.

There he found that the bedrock principle upon which the United Nations was founded was the prohibition “of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” The Soviet Union had not only ratified the Charter, but had also played a key role in the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.

Russia was also a party to a number of U.N. human rights treaties or conventions. Tgese included:

–U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1967j
–U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
–U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990)
–U.N. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict 2001)

In thecarea of International Humanitarian Law, Putin found tgat Russia was a party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Protocols, as summarized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), among others.

See ICRC, “Summary of the Geneva Conventions
of 1949 and Their Additional Protocols,” 2011.

Putin, in an epiphany which recalled Paul’s conversion on tge road to Damascas, decided tonseek forgiveness for his sins and to follow tge path of God.

As a first step, he has ordered tge withdrawal if all Russian troops from Ukraine as defined by its internationallt-recognized borders of 1991.

BACKGROUND

1) Harriet Barber, “Trump lashes out at Putin as Ukraine ceasefire talks stall; US president ‘p—ed off’ as Russian counterpart demands that Volodymyr Zelensky be replaced with transitional government:” The Telegraph, March 30, 2025 (8:09pm BST);

2) Adam Schiff, Schiff Notes

3) Norm Eisen and Rasha Rangappa, “coffee with the Contrarians,” March 31, 2025.

President Trump should be reminfed of thevwords in Aricle 2 paragrap 4 of the United Nations Charter, which provides:

Article 2

The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.
…
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

Why does Article 2 (4) prohibit both the use of force and the threat the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”?

The answer is quite clear.In the recent experience of the founders of the U.N. in San Francisco in December 1945 was the annexation of Austria and its incorporation into the state of Germany in March 1936 (the so-called Anschluss) under the threat of military invasion, and the cession of the Sudetenland (German-speaking provines of Czechoslovakia) oursuant to the Munich Pact of September 30, 1938.

Trump’t threat to bomb Iran if tgey don’t agree to a nuclear settlement is a clear violation of Article 2 (4) of tge U.N,p. Charter, and also of ttge 1868 on-proliferation Treaty to which both Iran and the U,S. are parties.

BACKGROUND

1) “Putin propone sustituir a Zelenski por un Gobierno temporal auspiciado por la ONU y EE UU; Washington rechaza la idea del presidente ruso porque vulnera la Constitución ucrania y la voluntad de su ciudadanía,” El País, el 28 de marzo 2025.

BACKGROUND

1) Tom Nicholsm “The Trump Team’s Denials Are Laughable; The president’s officials must know that what they did in the Signal group chat was wrong—and dangerous,” The Atlantic, March 26, 2025 (3:26 pm);

2) Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris, “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signalb; The administration has downplayed the importance of the text messages inadvertently sent to The Atlantic’s editor in chief., The Atlanric, March 26, 2025 (8:19 am);

Malevolent incompetenxe

Donald Trumpmon his first day in office issued a decree which granted tge highestvsecurity clearance to anyone je ne named or the White House Counsel added yo the list, without any vetting. Elon Musk and his ream, and pro-Russian Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, as well as Defense Secretary Pail Hegsith presumably received such clearances without vetting. Vetting mihhybhave identified Hegseth drinking oroblems and Gabbard” pro-Russian and pro-Syrian actions and statements as problematical. Musk represents a huge security risk because of his investments and Tesla operations in China.
The biggest security risk, of course, is Donald Trump whois reliably reported to beca Russian asset.
The mind+boggling incompetence of Paul Hefseth and others who participated in the Signal chat hours before U.S. mikitarybaction against targets in Temen is malevolentmp because Trump demonstrably incompetent people like Hegseth abd Gabbard to key National Security positions with suchbdisregard forvqualifications as to amount to malice.

Now we must demand truthful ansers to the following question:

“What other chats on Signal ot other unsecured platforms did tgese and other national security officials engage in?

BACKGROUND

See,

1) Robyn Dixon, “How Trump’s policies have helped Russia and furthered Putin’s goals; Months into the new administration, a slew of policy changes have helped Russia, including defunding U.S. soft power, standing down cyber efforts and splitting with NATO allies,” Washington zpost, March 26, 2025 (9:15 a.m EDT);

37

BACKGROUND

1) By Paul Rosenzweig, “The Pathetic, Cowardly Collapse of Big Law; Trump’s actions are an attempt to tilt the scales of justice by using the raw power of government coercion—and they’re working,” The Atlantic, March 26, 2025 (8:32 ET);

2)3) Michael Birnbaum, “Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of ehis attacks; The president issued a new order Tuesday sanctioning yet another law firm, Jenner & Block. The result overall has been called an extraordinary threat to constitutional rights of due process and legal representation and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump’s actions in court than during his first term, Washington Post, March 25, 2025 (Updated at 4:12 p.m. EDT);

3) Devlin Barrett, “With New Decree, Trump Seeks to Cow the Legal Profession; A presidential memorandum aimed at lawyers everywhere struck a menacing tone, Washington Post, March 22 2025;

4) “They Are America’s Most Powerful Law Firms. Their Silence Is Deafening,” New York Times, March 25, 2025

5) John W. Keker, Robert A. Van Nest and Elliot R. Peters,”
“Our Law Firm Won’t Cave to Trump. Who Will Join Us?,” New York Times, March 30, 2025;

The writers are the senior partners at the law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters.

5) Ben Protess, “In Trump’s Fight With Perkins Coie, the Richest Firms Are Staying Quiet; None of the nation’s top-10 firms by revenue have signed a legal brief demonstrating support for the law firm that is resisting an executive order,”New York Times, April 2, 2025 (Updated 1:06 p.m. ET);

BAcKGROUND

See,

1) George Packer,”THE HOLLOW MEN; It takes a special talent to betray an entire worldview without missing a beat, The Atlantic, March 25, 2025 (8:00 am ET);

2) T. S. Eliot (1888 –1965), “The Hollow Men (1925)”, poets.org;;

3) Michael Birnbaum, “Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of ehis attacks; The president issued a new order Tuesday sanctioning yet another law firm, Jenner & Block. The result overall has been called an extraordinary threat to constitutional rights of due process and legal representation and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump’s actions in court than during his first term, Washington Post, March 25, 2025 (Updated at 4:12 p.m. EDT);

4) Stefan Schocher, “Terror, Folter, Entführungen – In den besetzten Gebieten lauert die Gefahr überall;, Die Welt, den 24. März 2025;

5) Stefan Schocher,”Terror, torture, kidnappings – the danger lurks everywhere in the occupied territories,l DiecWelt, March 24, 2025;

6) “Russia rejects Trump’s new ceasefire unless sanctions lifted,” The Telegraph, March 26, 2025;

BACKGROUND

1) Will Bunch, “The frog of democracy is nearly boiled. We can still jump out of the pot; The slow, seemingly piecemeal march of American dictatorship is trampling colleges and law firms and coming for the rest of us, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 23, 2025 (12:42 pm ET);

2) “Statement: Human Rights Watch declaration on prison conditions in El Salvador for the J.G.G. v. Trump,” Human Rights Watch, March 20, 2025(4:00PM EDT);

3) Mneesha Gellman(Emerson College),”Beatings, overcrowding and food deprivation: US deportees face distressing human rights conditions in El Salvador’s mega-prison,” Houston Chronicle, March 17, 2025

Trump’s police state is here; The useful (if untrue) metaphor of the frog in a boiling pot

On Washington Week on PBS on Friday, March 21, 2025, leading American journalists debated in fine detail whether the United States faces a “constitutional crisis”.

What the ****!

Even leading American journals have been so cowed by Trump that they can’t say the words directly. They have become incapable of reporting the equivalent of the cause of a nuclear explosion being a nuclear bomb.

The coverage in the Washington Post, in particular, has become so anodyne as to be almost meaningless. Think of the investigative journalism the old Washington Post might be engaging in.

The president is engaged in an unconstitutional dismantlement of federal agencies established by Congress.

The president is whisking people away im the middle of the night and deporting them to El Salador and its infamous prisons–with no due process as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. In some cases he is detaining individuals in the middle of the night with no charges, with no Miranda warnings, denying them access to lawyers in violation of the Sixth Amendment, and asserting he has the right to deport anyone under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Could this be a constitutional crisis?

Do you think?

El Salvador’s prisons are, as regards deportees, our prisons

Think about this for a minute.

The United States cannot escape its moral and legal obligations, under either domestic or international law, by simply deporting individuals to a foreign country that does not respect such obligations.

Were it otherwise, the U.S. could simply deport an individual to a country where he will be tortured, or murdered. Or forced to live in prison conditions prohibited by U.S. and international law.

As we examine the legal arguments advanced by the Trump administration, we must bear in mind that the Trump administration is engaged across the board in bad faith government, lies, and distortions of the truth.

A central tenet of all legal systems is the obligation of all parties to act in good faith. In judicial proceedings, this obligation is particularly important.

The Trump administration violates this good faith requirement every day, stetching the clear meaning of statutes far beyond any good faith interpretation. Read their legal arguments carefully.

Do they seem to you to be made in good faith?

VpBACKGROUND

1) Cristian Segura, “Ucrania da por hecho que Putin quiere ganar tiempo para proseguir la ofensiva; Políticos y militares en Kiev interpretan que el líder ruso demostró en su llamada con Trump que no tiene intención de sellar la paz,” El País, el 20 de marzo 2024 (00:40 EDT);

2) Cristian Segura, “Ukraine assumes that Putin wants to buy time to continue the offensive; Politicians and military in Kiev interpret that the Russian leader showed in his call with Trump that he has no intention of sealing the peace
March 20, 2025 (12:40 am EDT);

3) Thomas Grove, Alan Cullison, and Michael R. Gordon, “Trump Russia Envoy Echoes Kremlin’s Views on Ukraine Ahead of Peace Talks; U.S. is hoping for a broader cease-fire between Moscow and Kyiv covering the Black Sea in negotiations starting in Saudi Arabia,” Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2025 (3:32 pm ET);

4) J. Michael Luttig, “It’s Trump vs. the Courts, and It Won’t End Well for Trump,” New York Times, March 23, 2025.

Judge Luttig was appointed by President George H.W. Bush and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006.

5) Javier G. Cuesta,”Putin no sueña con treguas; El presidente ruso desconfía de la Administración Trump y avisa a los empresarios de que sería una ingenuidad esperar un desenlace rápido de la guerra en Ucrania,” El País, el 23 de marzo 2025 (05:40 CET);

Moscú – 23 MAR 2025 – 05:40 CET

Law as a sword, not a shield