Irrespective of the verdict, the prosecution of Ben Roberts-Smith demonstrates that the legacy of Nuremberg is not dead
Ben Roberts-Smith has been charged with war crimes. Good for Australia, in a world where the greatest war criminals go scot-free, (if that phrase is still acceptable). Vladimir Putin is the worst – invading an unthreatening Ukraine and killing hundreds of thousands of their, and his own, people. But he’s followed by Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, our foul mouthed and thuggish allies who glory in the mass murder of Iranians and Lebanese, egged on by Benjamin Netanyahu. For these people, Nuremberg may as well not have happened. In their new world order, where might is always right, there are no rules of command responsibility.
This does not of course exculpate the murderous mullahs of Iran, who have been killing their own people for many years. Earlier this year their revolutionary guards unleashed a wave of terror, killing many thousands of peaceful political protesters and subjecting others to torture. Trump urged these good people to rise up and overthrow their government, which was a reckless and indeed imbecile invitation as everyone knew that they had no guns. Now, many of them are being hung for being “moharab”, ie enemies of God. Trump no longer cares about them: he did not make it a condition of the ceasefire agreement that Iran should suspend the death penalty.