prior probability

Remember when the President of Serbia (Slobodan Milošević) was arrested and put on trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes that occurred under his watch in Bosnia and Herzegovina? (See here.) So, why hasn’t a single Russian military official been charged for Putin’s inhumane actions 22 years ago: the destruction of an entire capital and the indiscriminate massacre of thousands of civilians? [Read about the 1999-2000 Battle of Grozny here (hat tip: Brian Leiter), and for the bigger picture, see here.] At the very least, why haven’t the free countries of the world created a Russian War Crimes Tribunal to put Vladimir Putin and his men on notice? To be fair, there should also be a special tribunal for U.S. war crimes, and George W. Bush should be prosecuted under international law for his illegal invasion of Iraq, but the misdeeds of Bush (going to war under false pretenses), of the Supreme Leader of Iran (Ali Khamenei), of the Chinese Communist Party chief (Xi Jinping), and of North Korea’s Dear Leader (Kim Jong-un) all pale in comparison to what Putin has done (Grozny) and is now doing (Ukraine)! #FuckPutin #FuckBush #FuckKhamenei #FuckXi

I know, I know, the capitol fence is only a temporary one, but regardless of its transiency, it’s a “bad look” for the world’s oldest republic!

Check out this excellent essay by Tom McTague, a London-based staff writer at The Atlantic. Among other things, McTague compares and contrasts the bravery of Ukraine with the shameful and calculating cowardice of her pusillanimous NATO allies. Below the fold is an extended excerpt from McTague’s essay — links in the original; hat tip: Eugene Volokh.

Why hasn’t the Russian Federation been expelled from the United Nations yet? For further information about this question, see here and here.

Update: Hey, at least FIFA has banned the Russian national team from this year’s World Cup!

Bye bye, February! In honor of the shortest month of the year, below is a brief listing of my most succinct scholarly works:

1. Kant on Evidence: A Hypothetical Reply to Kerr, a three-paragraph comment letter published in the summer 2019 issue of my favorite law review, The Green Bag.
2. Research Fraud as Tort, a comment letter published in the Sept. 25, 2015 issue of the journal Science (also three paragraphs).
3. Public Trust Doctrine: Too Broad, a comment letter published in the Oct. 2, 2009 issue of Science (only two paragraphs!).

My all-time shortest contribution, however, is this one-paragraph comment letter that was published in the July 5, 2013 issue of journal Science. PS: Here is a non-gated version (see letter #4).

Although I hate to be “that guy” — and I am rooting for the Ukrainians to repel their Russian invaders — few people “north of the border” like to be reminded of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), which was an illegal and unjustified war of aggression initiated by the USA, but the Southwest region of North America, including all of Texas and California, once belonged to Mexico (hat tip: u/Homesanto).