LAW OF THE OUTLAW

This week may “long live in infamy” by those recalling the Russian military invasion of the nation of Ukraine. To the extent that the CLB has a foreign policy, the position here is that Vladimir Putin must pay.

The U.S. will not and should not “nuke” Moscow to take out Putin. Nor is the U.S. likely to sponsor a targeted assassination effort to eliminate Putin without extensive collateral damage. It seems to be an unwritten rule of diplomacy among national leaders to refrain from killing one another. Once such a practice begins, it may be turned upon the leader behind that first strike. So we need to target Putin without (necessarily) killing him. How?

A vague recollection from a law school course in English legal history pertains to the fate of the “outlaw.” Once deemed an “outlaw” a person could be murdered with criminal and civil impunity. There was no “wergild”¹ for the outlaw. His neighbors could take his land and livestock. The “outlaw” was wholly bereft of legal protection or remedy.

While the U.S. will not assassinate Putin, it could (quietly) declare the prospective award of asylum to anyone who pulls the trigger or plunges the dagger into Putin. So long as Putin draws breath he should be in genuine fear of travel outside of Russia and less than wholly at ease within Russia.

The best case scenario is that factions within Russian government or military (or perhaps a cabal of oligarchs) capture Putin and condemn him to the fate of Saddam Hussein.

Meanwhile, the U.N. needs to reorganize without a Russian veto power or a Russian seat on the Security Council. Russia should have no greater sway in the U.N. than any “third world” nation. And the U.S. and free nations of the world should neither buy from nor sell to Russia. Georgia and Chechnya should feel free to ambush their Russian handlers. All the former Soviet Republics sharing a border with Russia should feel free to resolve border disputes in their own favor. Having lost four southern Kuril Islands to Russia at the end of WWII, Japan should have the unofficial blessing of the U.S. to conduct naval exercises and such in that region while announcing a goal of repatriating those lost islands.

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¹ A “wergild” is a monetary figure for the value of a life of a man. The wergild could be paid to the kindred of a murder victim to avoid a blood feud. Better to have a high wergild than none at all.