Poland is ready to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine when they fly towards NATO airspace
War crimes cannot go unpunished.
Why did the West sentence Saddam Hussein to death?
Why did we do that?
After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the United States and its allies, Saddam Hussein was captured on 13 December of that year. He was placed on trial by the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which was established to prosecute the former regime’s crimes. The tribunal found him guilty of the Dujail killings and sentenced him to death.
Of course, there were plenty of crimes committed by the Iraqi dictator. The tribunal picked one of the worst ones. After an assassination attempt on his life, Saddam Hussein ordered the killing of 148 Shiite men and boys in the town of Dujail. There was evidence. A trial was ordered. He was sentenced to death.
Why on earth did we do that? Why couldn’t we leave him? We did that because he lost his power. He did not have the ability to fight. He was weak. So justice was delivered.
Isn’t that the message we are sending the world today? That if you are weak and powerless, you will have to pay for your crimes. But if you are strong and have power, we will have another set of rules for you.
Russia continues to commit war crimes, and unless they get punished for it, why on earth would they stop? Why would anyone with power want to stop? Are we going to set the world in this direction? What right do Western leaders have to even talk about a rules-based order when they do not display the courage to deliver justice?
If we do not respond to the broad daylight Russian attack on the largest children’s hospital in Kyiv, we can take the Geneva Convention, rip it into shreds, burn it and then dump the ashes in the Atlantic.
Russians have boasted over and over about the accuracy of their missiles. It is easy to find their claims, as they have been recorded numerous times. The Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital that came under attack yesterday is not a military hospital. It is a children’s hospital with the capacity to treat 18,000 children every year.
Article 19 of the Geneva Convention, to which Russia is a signatory, relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states that the international legal protection to civilian hospitals does not end unless the hospital undertakes “acts harmful to the enemy,” and Article 19 explicitly excludes the presence of sick or wounded military personnel as an act “harmful to the enemy.”
Article 19 also states that the “enemy” must give a warning prior to attacking a hospital allegedly containing a “harmful” military target, and no Russian sources are claiming that Russian authorities issued such a warning, nor have any offered proof that a hospital full of sick children was posing an imminent threat to Russian forces.
The Russian MoD’s claim that a Ukrainian air defense interceptor hit civilian objects and Russian milblogger claims that a Russian missile accidentally hit the hospital also do not absolve Russian forces of responsibility for these consequences, as Russia is the aggressor state in this war and Ukraine would not have to defend against Russian strikes if Russia had not launched its full-scale invasion of and routine missile strike series against Ukraine.
We have better evidence to prosecute the Kremlin than the Iraqi Special Tribunal had to prosecute Saddam Hussein. And we have plenty of ways other than a tribunal to deliver our response.
Poland is ready to shoot down Russian missiles and drones in Ukrainian airspace heading towards NATO airspace. After a meeting with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared the details of the agreement between Poland and Ukraine:
“Today in Warsaw, Poland’s Prime Minister @donaldtusk and I signed the Agreement on Security Cooperation between Ukraine and the Republic of Poland. This unprecedented document includes a provision for shooting down Russian missiles and drones in Ukraine’s airspace that are fired in the direction of Poland.
We are committed to implementing it. We will also cooperate on combat aircraft — both those already transferred by Poland and the possibility of transferring more in the future.
In our security agreement, we have formalized the formation and training of the Ukrainian Legion, a new volunteer military unit, on Polish territory. This unit will be trained in Poland and equipped by our partners”.
Poland and Ukraine are ready to work together to stop Russian missiles. But this is not a done deal yet. The EU has to agree, and the United States has to agree as well. So, we have two more hoops to jump through before this can be realized.
How will this work?
Poland has more than four Patriot batteries guarding its airspace. They also have more than 50 fighter jets. If needed, as a NATO country, we can send any number of Patriot air-defense systems and fighter jets to Poland. Thanks to the war, NATO fighter jets are flying over Polish territory every day to guard NATO airspace and to shoot down Russian missiles if they enter.
Poland is now seeking permission to target anything that moves in the direction of NATO airspace. Technically, this would mean they could hit anything that flies even a few seconds in the western direction after being launched from Russia.
So, we have the leeway to intercept most of the Russian missiles. However, I don’t think they would go that far. If permission is granted, Poland will use the Patriot systems stationed along its border to protect Western Ukraine. For example, you can see the area of Patriot coverage in the image below.
Add Romania to the list, and at least a quarter of Ukraine can be protected by NATO power to stop Russian missiles and drones. This would free up a significant amount of resources Ukraine has reserved to protect its western territory.
As usual, the escalation managers in distant lands are going to have a heart attack over this suggestion. I have only one question for them: Do you have any respect for the Geneva Convention, or is it just a piece of paper that you use when it is convenient for you?
Their obvious concern would be the potential for Russia to launch missiles at Patriots inside Polish territory. Let them; they will all be destroyed. Patriots have proven time and again that they can stop Russian missiles. It is due to a lack of air-defense density that Russian missiles are getting through.
How many S-400/S-300 systems have been destroyed by Ukraine? How many Patriot batteries have been destroyed by Russia? The imbalance clearly shows the power of the systems we have in our possession. Russia has a set missile production rate, and their fighter jet fleet is not growing either. With ten air-defense systems guarding eastern Ukraine and another ten or twelve NATO systems protecting western Ukraine, we can saturate the sky over Ukraine.
Then we wouldn’t have to worry about hospitals and children being killed by the enemy. This is the least we can do. Lifting the restrictions placed on Ukraine to destroy Russian missile launchers inside Russia would be the right thing to do.
Thanks for reading. Making critical information on Ukraine accessible is one way to fight misinformation. That’s why I’ve made 220 stories free to the public in 2024, including this one.
