It would be fitting but, alas, won’t happen.
Way back on February 22, at the onset of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine, I observed, “In an ideal world, I would like to strip Russia of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It has consistently shown itself unwilling to play by the most fundamental rules of the system. But, realistically, there’s no mechanism for making that happen.” Six weeks later, in response to gross atrocities and war crimes, we may be about to find out. The Hill (“ Zelensky calls for Russian expulsion from UN Security Council “): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a dramatic video appearance at the United Nations called on the body to remove Russia from the Security Council days after evidence circulated of executions and other atrocities committed by Russian troops in his country. Zelensky said Russia should be removed from its place as a permanent member of the Security Council, where it holds veto power, arguing that it was time to reform the global peace-keeping body. “We are dealing with a state that is turning the veto [in] the U.N. Security Council into the right to die,” Zelensky said in his remarks. “This undermines the whole architecture of global security and allows them to go unpunished.” “The main thing is today, it’s time to transform the system, the United Nations,” he told the Security Council. Days after President Biden instinctively called Putin a “war criminal” only to have his people walk it back, the administration looks to be making that official policy. WaPo (“ U.S. envoy to U.N. calls to kick Russia out of Human Rights Council “): U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged nations on Tuesday to vote to suspend Russia’s membership in the U.N. Human Rights Council amid reports of mass atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. “Russia should not have a position of authority in a body whose purpose is to promote respect for human rights,” Thomas-Greenfield said at a meeting of the U.
