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By Jay Janson
Nuremberg Principles of International Law 6: Crimes against humanity:
Such as (c) Inhuman acts done against any civilian population. United Nations Convention on Genocide Article II genocide means acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national or other group, as such: (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
Reporting Ongoing Crime Against Humanity Being Openly Committed
Venezuelan oil exports plunge on ‘harsher’ US sanctions
On 12 Feb. 2019, as reported by RT News:
“US government seeks to essentially shut in the country’s oil sector.
Reuters reported that even prior to last Friday’s clarification from the US Treasury, European buyers were already slashing purchases because of concerns over payments. Reuters reported that two of the world’s largest oil traders, Vitol and Trafigura, said that they would comply with all US sanctions.
The Wall Street Journal reported oil storage is “filling up” in Venezuela because of a lack of buyers.
Moreover, not only are the effects of the sanctions more far-reaching, but also more immediate. PDVSA, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company has demanded upfront payment, likely because it fears not being paid at all or having the revenues steered to the opposition. Indeed, the US effort to steer PDVSA and its revenues into the hands of the US-backed opposition leader Juan Gauido appears to be a decisive turning point.
Oil tankers linked to Chevron, Lukoil and Respsol are delayed, redirected or sitting offshore because of lack of payment. The WSJ says that several of those tankers … are now anchored off the coast of Maracaibo sitting idle. “This is an absolute disaster,” Luis Hernandez, a Venezuelan oil union leader, told the WSJ. “There’s almost no way to move the oil.”
Unable to sell any oil, the Venezuelan government could quickly run out of cash. The result could be a humanitarian catastrophe, a merciless and destructive objective that the Trump administration seems to have in mind.
Also:
The Bank of England is currently withholding $1.2 billion in gold from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, but is being urged by Washington to release it to the chairman of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido. Last week, the US backed Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela, after he declared himself interim president.
The Venezuelan government must sue the US government in the International Court of Justice for creating famine by & sanctioning all its oil sales & seizing its bank deposits.
First of All
According to the Charter of the United Nations[1], only the UN Security Council has a mandate by the international community to apply sanctions (Article 41). Only the UN Security Council!
Secondly:
Principle 6 of the Nuremberg Principles of International Law[2] defines
Crimes against humanity:
(c) inhuman acts done against any civilian population. I.e. inhuman acts done against any civilian population is a crime against humanity deserving punishment.
Stealing, confiscating and misappropriating of funds needed to feed a population and blocking its government with sanctions from income in trade in order to feed its population certainly are certainly current and past inhuman acts against the civilian population of Venezuela.
And Thirdly:
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide[3] was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951.
United Nations -Treaty Series
Convention on Genocide
Article I
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group, as such:
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part:
Officials of United States government are deliberately inflicting on the Venezuelan nation conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in part and causing serious bodily and mental harm to Venezuelans, and by The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly this is a punishable crime of genocide.
The Venezuela government MUST sue the US in the International Court of Justice for creating famine by & blocking all oil sales & seizing bank deposits.
In 1986, the International Court of Justice in adjudicating The Republic of Nicaragua v. The United States of America, held that the U.S. had violated international law by supporting the Contras in their rebellion against the Nicaraguan government and by mining Nicaragua’s harbors. Never mind that the United States refused to participate in the proceedings after the Court rejected its argument that the ICJ lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. Never mind that U.S. also blocked enforcement of the judgment by the United Nations Security Council and thereby prevented Nicaragua from obtaining any compensation. The General Assembly voted twice in favor of a resolution calling for full and immediate compliance with the judgement with only Israel voting against with the USA, but more importantly, probably because of the great attention the US conviction received in ‘the court of public opinion,’ the US stopped mining Nicaragua’s harbors and lessened outright support for the Contras murderous attacks.
The Venezuela government must sue the United States in the International Court of Justice for creating famine by & blocking all its oil sales & stealing its bank deposits. Let this crime be dramatized and condemned in the ‘world wide court of public opinion.’
End Notes
1.
The Charter of the United Nations (also known as the UN Charter) of 1945 is the foundational treaty of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization.[1] The UN Charter articulated a commitment to uphold human rights of citizens and outlined a broad set of principles relating to achieving ‘higher standards of living’, addressing ‘economic, social, health, and related problems,’ and ‘universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.’[2] As a charter, it is a constituent treaty, and all members are bound by its articles. Furthermore, Article 103 of the Charter states that obligations to the United Nations prevail over all other treaty obligations.[1][3]
Principle VI
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connection with any crime against peace or any war crime.
3.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Approved and proposed for signature and ratification or accession by General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December 1948
Entry into force: 12 January 1951, in accordance with article XIII
Article I
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
JAY JANSON, Resident Historian, Distinguished Collaborator • Jay Janson is an archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer; has lived and worked on all continents; articles on media published in China, Italy, UK, India and in the US by Dissident Voice, Global Research; Information Clearing House; Counter Currents and others; now resides in NYC; First effort was a series of articles on deadly cultural pollution endangering seven areas of life emanating from Western corporate owned commercial media published in Hong Kong's Window Magazine 1993; Howard Zinn lent his name to various projects of his; Weekly column, South China Morning Post, 1986-87; reviews for Ta Kung Bao; article China Daily, 1989. Is coordinator of the Howard Zinn co-founded King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign, and website historian of the Ramsey Clark co-founded Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign, which Dissident Voice supports with link at the end of each issue of its newsletter.
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Things to ponder
While our media prostitutes, many Hollywood celebs, and politicians and opinion shapers make so much noise about the still to be demonstrated damage done by the Russkies to our nonexistent democracy, this is what the sanctimonious US government has done overseas just since the close of World War 2. And this is what we know about. Many other misdeeds are yet to be revealed or documented.
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
^5000The mainstream imperialist media lie CONSTANTLY. Literally 24/7. And it's getting worse.
All of them do it: radio, tv, the newspapers, the movies. The internet. No exceptions.
The corporate Big Lie is pervasive and totalitarian. CBS does it. NBC does it. ABC does it.
CNN does it. FOX does it. NPR does it. And of course the NYTimes and WaPo do it.
Thousands of "diverse" voices telling you the same lies. Enough to convince anyone.