Why is Russia bad news?

No seriously, if you’ve been watching Russia recently you’ll notice that it is all over our news.

What you won’t notice is us all over their news.

That’s because they are too busy blocking United Nations Human Rights Council meetings.

On Monday, Russia blocked a meeting of the United Nations Security Council meant to discuss the status of human rights in Syria.

Of course, China assisted in blocking the United Nations Human Rights Chief from discussing the situation.

The Human Rights Chief has urged the council to recommend Syria to the International Criminal Court.

Meanwhile, the UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an organization founded in 2006 to monitor human rights abuses in Syria, reported at least fifteen children were killed by Russian bombing in Syria’s rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region.

This past week, Amnesty International reported that Syrian government officials “are committing war crimes on an epic scale” in Eastern Ghouta.

The Russian government continues to back the Syrian government in “intentionally targeting its own people.”

In addition to many parts of Syria, “war crimes” have also been reported in Damascus.

Why has the international community failed to act?

For over six years the international community has idly watched as attacks on civilians and sieges on civilian areas rage on.

Chemical weapons have been used against the Syrian people which, is not only an atrocity in its own right, but can also influence the further use of chemical weapons in future conflicts.

Throughout these atrocities the international community has catastrophically failed in its convention in support of human rights.

What is this convention?

The duty to uphold the dignity and rights of all people.

There needs to be a humanitarian truce in order for there to be a possibility of a cease fire.

The United Nation Security Council must enforce its own resolutions.

Member states should abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law by granting safe passage for civilians wanting to flee from war ridden areas.

This is 2018, a cease fire is completely reasonable for an alleged globalized, cooperative, and interdependent world.

The United States has failed in its duty to adhere to our values ratified in the United Nations Charter of 1945 stating, “To reaffirm faith and fundamental human rights, and the dignity and worth of the human person, and equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom…”

While the United States has voted in support of permitting discussion of the human rights violations occurring in Syria, I dare say we are not doing enough.

On another note, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been re-elected.

No surprise there.