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Like So Much Else, The Fuss Over "International Law" Is Really About Narrative Control by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
(2024-05-25 at 22:13:02 )
Like So Much Else, The Fuss Over "International Law" Is Really About Narrative Control by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
That is why you see United States and Israeli officials raging and fuming about the actions of the ICJ and the ICC. It is not because they are worried those courts will be able to enforce the rulings they make, it is because it weakens their control of the narrative.
The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to cease its assault on Rafah, an order which will certainly be disregarded by Israel with the full support of Washington,D.C. This comes days after the International Criminal Court announced its intention to seek warrants for the arrest of Israeli officials for war crimes in Gaza, which will also be dismissed by Israel and its hegemonic ally to the west.
The other day ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said that when preparing to apply for the Israeli arrest warrants he was told by "a senior leader" that "This court is built for Africa and for thugs like Putin." You do not typically hear empire managers voice this kind of frank view when addressing the public, but it is not surprising that they hold this view behind the scenes. And in practice it is not even technically false - a casual glance at the list of prisoners detained at The Hague turns up individuals from small, weak, mostly African countries.
It is just a cold, hard fact that "international law" is never enforced against powerful nations or their protected allies, because there would be no way for the international community to enforce those laws upon them without waging a massive world war involving nuclear-armed states.
The United States notoriously put in place its "Hague Invasion Act" between its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to ensure that it can use military force to free any military personnel of the United States or its allies (this would include Israel) who wind up detained by the ICC. There is currently no force in the world that would be both willing and able to stop the United States war machine from doing such a thing.
This is incredible, but sadly unsurprising.
When he received threats not to go after Israel, KarimKhanQC reveals "a senior leader" told him the ICC "is built for Africa and for thugs like Putin", and not for the West and its allies."please see here:"-Arnaud Bertrand (RnaudBertrand) May 21, 2024
A law is not really a law if it can not be enforced. If I kill someone in a modern city, a bunch of law enforcement officials will come and arrest me and I will be sent to prison. If I killed someone in the western United States during the nineteenth century, it would not matter what the laws of the town happen to say if the sheriff and his posse are too afraid of me to bring me to justice. That is kind of what is happening on an international level - there is a big band of lawless thugs who do as they please, because there is no one else around with enough firepower to enforce any laws on them.
In reality, "international law" is a lie in two significant ways. It is a lie in the sense that western powers falsely purport to value and uphold it, and it is a lie in the sense that it has no meaningful existence since it is only ever enforced on small, weak powers.
The actions of the ICC and ICJ are useful only insofar as they help disabuse people of the delusional belief that western powers care one iota about international law, and in that they make it clear to the whole world that Israel and its powerful western allies are openly violating the rules they pretend to stand by.
It is useful as a counter-narrative against the official imperial narrative about what is happening, but it is not useful as a legal construct or means of ending Israeli atrocities in and of itself.
That is why you see United States and Israeli officials raging and fuming about the actions of the ICJ and the ICC. It is not because they are worried those courts will be able to enforce the rulings they make, it is because it weakens their control of the narrative. These rulings are being made in front of the entire world, and they say very bad things about what Israel and its allies have been doing in Gaza.
A rogue state so intent on genocide that they mock international law. If the United States was not shielding this they would be a full international pariah. "please see here:"-Read Let This Radicalize You (JoshuaPHilll) May 24, 2024
Israel and its defenders rage and fume about these developments for the same reason they rage and fume about any development that affects their narrative control in any large-scale, mainstream way.
They rage and fume at the ICJ and the ICC for the same reason they rage and fume at celebrities who criticize Israel, or at the student protesters at university campuses around the world.
Anything that causes the empire managers to lose their grip on the dominant stories people are telling about what is happening in the world is a direct threat to imperial power, because it shakes people out of the propaganda-induced stupor which causes them to consent to the imperial status quo.
That is why the United States and Israel pour so much effort into controlling the collective narrative in the west; they need people consenting to things which no psychologically healthy person would ever consent to without being manipulated and deceived.
Empire managers work so hard to control the dominant narratives of our civilization because they understand something that ordinary people do not: that real power comes from narrative control.
The only reason our society looks the way it looks and moves in the way that it moves is because of the narratives which we have collectively agreed to treat as true and real. It is the only reason power sits where it sits and operates the way it operates. It is the only reason money works the way it works. It is the only reason laws are laws and social etiquette is social etiquette.
Make no mistake: Israel has lost control of the narrative about Gaza, and they are very, very worried about this. That is why they are making big moves like the below. Do not let anyone tell you your efforts to expose Israels criminality to more people make no difference. "please see here:"-Caitlin Johnstone (caitoz) January 19, 2024
Everything about our society is determined by collectively agreed-upon narratives, which means that whoever can control those narratives can control our society. If everyone suddenly developed an acute awareness of the fact that this whole thing is made up and we can change our collectively agreed-upon narratives whenever we want to, our rulers would no longer be our rulers, and we could create whatever kind of society we wanted to.
So there is a lot riding on this narrative control thing. It is actually the very substance from which power is woven. That is what the empire managers are really worried about here, not "international law".
So while Gaza will not be saved by any actions by international courts, it just might be saved by enough people waking up from the narrative control of our rulers to force real change.
If enough people unplug their minds from the matrix of imperial propaganda and manipulation, there is no limit to what humanity can achieve as a species!
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Ah, the Buddha Ms Caitlin speaks the truth!!! - Cousin Lucky