| Back to... |
Share Our Stories! - Click Here
|
 |
US Draft
SC Resolution Calls For Naval Blockade |
| By
Stephen Lendman |
| It was drafted in September, Russian and Chinese veto power assuring
no chance of adoption. It authorized naval vessels of any UN member state to interdict and inspect North Korean ships in international waters - ones suspected of carrying banned cargo, along with using “all necessary measures to carry out inspections.” Blockades are acts of war, defined under international law as: surrounding a nation or objective with hostile forces; measures to isolate an enemy; encirclement and besieging; preventing the passage in or out of supplies, military forces or aid in time of or as an act of war; and an act of naval warfare to block access to an enemy’s coastline and deny entry to all vessels and aircraft. Law Professor Francis Boyle earlier earlier called blockades “belligerent measures taken by a nation (to) prevent passage of vessels or aircraft to and from another country,” adding: “Customary international law recognizes blockades as an act of war because of the belligerent use of force even against third party nations in enforcing the blockade.” “Blockades as acts of war have been recognized as such in the Declaration of Paris of 1856 and the Declaration of London of 1909 that delineate the international rules of warfare.” These declarations are binding international and US law because Washington approved them. The US Supreme Court called blockades acts of war in earlier rulings. Any attempt to interdict and search North Korean ship could trigger high seas belligerence. According to Pyongyang’s state-run KCNA news agency, DPRK leadership considers blockading the country an “act of war,” a “wanton violation” of its sovereignty and dignity, forcing its government to take all necessary defensive measures, adding: “Should the United States and its followers try to enforce the naval blockade against our country, we will see it as an act of war and respond with merciless self-defensive counter-measures as we have warned repeatedly.” At his annual tour de force press conference on Thursday, Vladimir Putin called for deescalating Korean peninsula tensions, adding: Everyone should be “extremely cautious” about dangerous brinkmanship conditions. War would be catastrophic if launched. Reckless Trump administration policies risk the unthinkable. VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html |