The vetoes that weren’t
Moscow and Beijing are escalating their criticisms of Western military action in Libya. Today’s NYT includes this account: As it gained force, the allied air campaign met a rising tide of criticism from around the world, notably from Russia and China, which abstained from voting on the United Nations resolution. “In general, it reminds me ...
Moscow and Beijing are escalating their criticisms of Western military action in Libya. Today's NYT includes this account:
Moscow and Beijing are escalating their criticisms of Western military action in Libya. Today’s NYT includes this account:
As it gained force, the allied air campaign met a rising tide of criticism from around the world, notably from Russia and China, which abstained from voting on the United Nations resolution. “In general, it reminds me of a medieval call for a crusade,” Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Monday, after criticizing the allies on Sunday for “indiscriminate use of force.”
As Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates began a visit to Russia, Mr. Putin called the resolution “deficient and flawed,” saying, “It allows everyone to undertake any actions in relation to a sovereign government.”
A commentary in China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper said that the Western actions violated international law and courted unforeseen disaster. “It should be seen that every time military means are used to address crises, that is a blow to the United Nations Charter and the rules of international relations,” the commentary said.
All of which leads to one big and obvious question: why didn’t they veto the resolution? I can think of a couple explanations. First, they didn’t care all that much and they didn’t want to use up diplomatic capital resisting strong Western pressure for intervention. Second, and more deviously, they may have liked the idea of the West spending time and resources in Libya. They knew the West wouldn’t intervene absent a Council resolution and so they abstained in order to induce an intervention they calculated would drain resources and open up the West to the very kind of criticism they’re now happily dishing out.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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