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Dangerous precedent

Apr 12,2014 - Last updated at Apr 12,2014

There is broad consensus, not only among Western capitals but across the world, that Russia’s annexation of Crimea jeopardises world order and undermines the international rules that helped preserve international and regional peace.

It is commonly agreed that in this time and age, countries can no longer invade other countries and grab their territories with impunity.

Few would disagree with the fact that when Russian President Vladimir Putin crossed the line in Ukraine, he also crossed the line of international order.

Putin did the same thing in 2008 with Georgia; then, he ordered his army to invade and grab parts of Georgia that he eventually added to the Russian Federation. 

Georgia remains a living example of landgrab that went unsanctioned. Who knows where Putin will stop as long as he gets away with his pre-20th century mentality. 

But Russia was not the first country to return to the 19th century policy of land aggrandisement, and do it with impunity. 

Israel grabbed Palestinian lands in 1947-48, as well as in the 1967, and started to “annex” East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank. 

So it is not just Russia that covets the land of its neighbours and annexes it. Israel set a dangerous precedent that some countries feel they can follow.

If the international community is concerned about violations of international order, why was there no serious move made to stop and reverse the Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories?

Why, then, show outrage at Russia’s occupation of territories belonging to other sovereign nations when Israel did the very same without an eyebrow raised?

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