Democratic Socialists of America and Global Socialist Trends incl Ukraine

Democrats since the Clinton presidency developed an aggressive divide and conquer, modus vivendi, our way or no way policy moderated only when President Clinton was caught with his pants down and lied about it to Congress. After that he was compelled to work with Republicans and a balanced federal budget occurred in his final year in office.

Democrats are heavily influenced by the D.S.A. these days; and the Democrat Socialists of America have a policy of radical transformation for the U.S. political system, not at all what one would expect from standard socialist models.  It is highly experimental and virtually treasonous from my point of view as it would return to open borders and prioritize increasing the internal proletariat size to a majority status that in theory might unite with the external proletariat south of the border as if that would make America great again and solve all of the world’s problems.

Democrats have supported the Ukraine war for the W. Ukraine government heavily. Preventing Russia from smoothly transitioning to democracy and capitalism must be an implicit high priority objective for global socialists. No less than Trotsky, modern post- Soviet socialists also view global political facts holistically and utilize war as politics through other means.

I personally don’t recognize much of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine seems a natural part of Russia to me since I took a few Russian history courses in college. For Bill Clinton and the post Soviet era werewolves desiring a new way to return socialism to global dominance it was important to wrest Ukraine from Russia and prevent an emergent capitalist democracy in Russia and Ukraine from taking hold. Europeans and Bill  Clinton were rather left leaning.  Before the end of the Bush 41 administration Dec. 1st and 2nd 1991 the Belovezha accords were signed. Boris Yeltsin had no practical alternative course to take besides signing and the next day recognizing Ukraine. It would have been simpler for communist to remain in power if there was a delay. Ending the Soviet Union was the main priority and opportunity. Formally ending the Soviet Union required recognition of the former Republic simultaneously and Ukraine went to  the west en passant as they accepted the former Soviet Union’s political structure and made all of those former Soviet republic independent. The consequences would need to be sorted out on the battlefield when Russia had the military capacity to recover its Ukraine lands.

I should say that I am not against 100% of the D.S.A. economic agenda- simply about 95% of the planks summarized below. THe two points I am in agreement with are these;

Establish a 32-hour work week and a guaranteed living wage.

Impose aggressive wealth taxes on high earners and corporations.

AI -Overview

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is an independent political and activist organization—not a wing or official platform of the mainstream Democratic Party, though DSA-backed candidates sometimes run and win in Democratic primaries.

The mainstream Democratic Party leadership and moderate Democrats generally reject the DSA’s core platform, while Republican critics frequently conflate mainstream Democrats with DSA positions.

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What is the DSA Policy (“Workers Deserve More” Platform)

The DSA’s national platform, titled Workers Deserve More!, calls for a systemic transition away from capitalism toward democratic socialism. Its primary policy pillars include:

• Government & Constitutional Reform:
  • Draft a new U.S. Constitution and replace the current system.
  • Abolish the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College.
  • Replace the presidency and Supreme Court with executive and judicial bodies chosen by and subordinate to Congress.
  • Expand the House of Representatives and adopt proportional representation and ranked-choice voting.
• Economic & Labor Policy:
  • Place major corporations and essential industries (such as energy and transportation) under public ownership.
  • Establish a 32-hour work week and a guaranteed living wage.
  • Impose aggressive wealth taxes on high earners and corporations.
  • Cancel all student debt and provide universal public education and housing.
• Healthcare & Environment:
  • Implement single-payer Medicare for All.
  • Enact the Green New Deal to transition away from fossil fuels.
• Criminal Justice & Immigration:
  • Abolish ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), prisons, and police forces.
  • Grant full amnesty, path-to-citizenship, and voting rights to noncitizens and individuals with criminal convictions.
• Foreign Policy:
  • Defund the Department of Defense, close overseas military bases, and end U.S. foreign wars.
  • Support the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, end U.S. military and economic aid to Israel, and reject Israel’s status as a Jewish state.

Distinction: Mainstream Democrats vs. DSA Policies

• Mainstream & Moderate Democrats: Do not adopt DSA platform items like abolishing the Senate, ending private corporate ownership, defunding police/ICE, or dismantling the Supreme Court. Mainstream positions typically focus on regulated capitalism, incremental healthcare expansions (such as strengthening the Affordable Care Act), and traditional constitutional governance.
• Progressive / DSA-Endorsed Democrats: A small faction of progressive lawmakers (such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Rashida Tlaib) have received DSA backing or share overlapping goals on issues like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and wealth taxation, leading to internal debates and friction within the broader Democratic Party.
• Republican Response: GOP figures frequently point to DSA platform proposals to characterize the entire Democratic Party as aligned with socialist or radical structural changes, a framing that mainstream and moderate Democrats reject.

when did the community of independent states dissolve

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has not dissolved and remains an active regional intergovernmental organization. [1, 2]

Because it was created on the ruins of the Soviet Union in December 1991, people frequently mistake its creation for a dissolution, or confuse it with the collapse of the USSR. [1, 2]

However, while the organization itself is still functional, its membership has shifted significantly over the years due to geopolitical conflicts: [1]

Current Status and Member Changes

• Active Members: As of 2026, the organization still includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan remains involved as an “associate state”. [1, 2, 3]
• Georgia’s Exit (2009): Georgia officially withdrew from the CIS in August 2009 following the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. [1, 2]
• Ukraine’s Exit (2014–2018): Ukraine was a founding state but never fully ratified the final CIS Charter. Following the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Ukraine began withdrawing from CIS statutory bodies, formally recalling its representatives and severing ties with most CIS treaties by 2018. [1, 2]
• Moldova’s Ongoing Withdrawal: Following regional security shifts and Russian aggression, Moldova’s government voted to completely and permanently withdraw from the CIS, set to be fully finalized. [1, 2]

The central executive headquarters of the CIS remains active and is located in Minsk, Belarus.

Would you like to know more about the agreements and treaties the CIS handles, or look into the specifics of Moldova’s exit?

Gary- after the Ukraine quit the CIS there was no longer any sort of recognition of Russia shared governmental thing that Russia had to recognize Ukraine as an independent nation?

AI- No, that is not how international law works. Ukraine leaving the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) did not nullify, erase, or change Russia’s legal obligation to recognize Ukraine as an independent nation.

In international diplomacy, a country’s recognition of another nation’s sovereignty is permanent and unconditional under global law unless the nation completely ceases to exist. Leaving a regional trade or political organization does not erase statehood.

The relationship between the CIS and Russia’s recognition of Ukraine is defined by several key realities:

1. Recognition Did Not Depend on the CIS

Russia’s recognition of Ukraine as an independent country happened separately from the CIS.

• Russian President Boris Yeltsin officially recognized Ukraine on December 2, 1991.
• The CIS wasn’t even founded until December 8, 1991.
• Ukraine was never actually a “full member” of the CIS because Ukraine refused to sign the 1993 CIS Charter. Ukraine purposely kept the CIS weak because they viewed it as a tool for a “civilized divorce” from the Soviet Union, not a shared governing body. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

2. Bilateral Treaties Outside of the CIS

Even without the CIS, Russia explicitly recognized Ukraine’s independence and borders in binding bilateral (two-party) treaties that had nothing to do with the commonwealth, including:

• The 1994 Budapest Memorandum: Russia, the US, and the UK signed a treaty explicitly promising to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and existing borders in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. [1, 2]
• The 1997 Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty: A formal, legally binding bilateral treaty where Russia re-confirmed that it recognized Ukraine’s borders (including Crimea) and state sovereignty.

3. What Actually Changed When Ukraine Left

Following Russia’s 2014 aggression and the 2022 full-scale invasion, Ukraine began systematically dismantling its post-Soviet legal ties. Ukraine terminated 116 international treaties linked to Russia, Belarus, and the CIS framework. [1, 2, 3]

By cutting these “legal threads,” Ukraine was canceling shared agreements on things like free-trade zones, shared customs protocols, and post-Soviet economic cooperation. [1, 2]

However, terminating a trade treaty or leaving a regional club does not cancel a nation’s sovereign existence. Legally and globally, Russia’s original, permanent recognition of Ukraine as a sovereign nation remains on the books, even if the Russian government under Vladimir Putin chooses to violate international law by invading it.

Gary- I just don’t see Russia as aggressive. I see them as assertive but I don’t recognize Russia as having invaded. It is a recovery of their own rightful property taken away by the ineffective yet necessary poor and unjust reallocation of republics as separate entities based on Soviet preferences for reorganization of Russia. Having read you a lot of history books in three Russian history courses in college, I see Ukraine as part of Russia and Russia just kicking out foreign sponsored military powers.

AI- This perspective reflects a view heavily anchored in centuries of historical, cultural, and political ties between the two regions, which often forms the core of the argument that Russia and Ukraine share a single, inseparable civilizational space.

From this historical viewpoint, the origins of both nations are traced back to the medieval state of Kievan Rus’, which is viewed as the common cradle of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian culture. Throughout the centuries of the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union, these territories were deeply integrated economically, militarily, and socially. For those who view history through this lens of a unified state or a shared “All-Russian” identity, recent conflicts are interpreted not as an invasion of a foreign country, but as an internal or defensive action to protect a historic borderland and push back against external Western military alignment (such as NATO expansion).

However, international law and the global diplomatic community operate on a framework that was codified and mutually agreed upon at the end of the Cold War:

• The Principle of State Sovereignty: Under the United Nations Charter, the definitive factor in international relations is the formal sovereignty of a state within its recognized borders. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, all 15 republics—including Russia and Ukraine—became legally distinct, independent nations under international law.
• The Legal Status of the Conflict: Because Ukraine is a fully recognized sovereign state and a member of the United Nations, the entry of Russian military forces into internationally recognized Ukrainian territory (including Crimea in 2014 and the wider region in 2022) is classified by the United Nations General Assembly and the International Court of Justice as an unprovoked invasion and an act of aggression, violating Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

The clash between these two perspectives highlights a fundamental divide: one side views the situation through a lens of deep, long-term historical and civilizational unity, while the other views it strictly through the lens of modern international law and sovereign state borders established in 1991.

Given your background in Russian history, would you like to discuss how the concept of Ukrainian national identity developed differently from Russia’s over the centuries, or explore specific security agreements from the 1990s?

Gary– I don’t think it’s reasonable. When the Soviet had to end and Russia had to become independent from the Soviets- the communists weren’t entirely gone -even now Gennady Zyugonov is an elected member of the Russian Duma.

AI- You are pointing out the exact paradox that fascinated political scientists and historians at the time: how could Russia become “independent” from a system that it essentially ran, and how could the Soviet Union be gone when its top leaders were still sitting in Moscow?

The leader you are thinking of is Mikhail Gorbachev, the final General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of the USSR.

The historical reality of how Russia effectively forced the Soviet Union out of existence involves a unique political dynamic:

1. The Power Struggle: Yeltsin vs. Gorbachev

By 1991, there were two overlapping governments operating out of the exact same city (Moscow): [1, 2]

• The Soviet Union (USSR): Led by Mikhail Gorbachev, ruling over the entire 15-republic empire.
• The Russian Republic (RSFSR): Led by Boris Yeltsin, who had been elected by popular vote as the leader of the specific Russian piece of that empire. [1, 2, 3]

Yeltsin realized that the easiest way to strip Gorbachev of his power was to dismantle the Soviet Union itself. If there was no Soviet Union, Gorbachev’s job as Soviet President would cease to exist. [1, 2, 3]

2. The August 1991 Coup (The Breaking Point)

In August 1991, Communist hardliners (the “Gang of Eight”) grew terrified that Gorbachev was giving too much power away to republics like Ukraine and Russia. They launched a military coup, putting Gorbachev under house arrest in Crimea. [1, 2, 3]

The coup failed because Boris Yeltsin famously stood on top of a tank in Moscow and rallied the public against the hardliners. When Gorbachev was freed and returned to Moscow, he was a ghost of a leader. Yeltsin was now the most powerful man in Russia, and the Communist Party was legally banned on Russian soil. [1, 2, 3, 4]

3. How Russia “Quit” the Soviet Union

Because the Soviet central government was bankrupt and broken after the coup, individual republics began jumping ship. When Ukraine voted 90% in favor of full independence on December 1, 1991, Yeltsin knew the Soviet Union was dead. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Instead of trying to force Ukraine back in, Yeltsin met secretly with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus on December 8, 1991. They signed the Belovezha Accords, explicitly stating that the USSR had dissolved. [1, 2, 3]

4. The Final Day

Because Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (the core founding states of the USSR) had dissolved the union, Gorbachev had no country left to rule. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev went on live television, resigned, and handed the nuclear codes over to Boris Yeltsin. The Soviet flag was lowered, the Russian tricolor was raised, and Russia took over the Soviet Union’s seat at the United Nations. [1, 2, 3]

Russia didn’t fight the Soviet Union for independence in a traditional war; instead, the Russian government under Yeltsin simply choked off the Soviet central government’s funding, absorbed its ministries, and legally dissolved the union from the inside out. [1]

Gary- You missed the point, it was Gannady Zyuganov who was the Communist party leader after Gorbachev left. I meant to say that because Russia had to somehow formally sign off on to get rid of the Soviet Union and plainly Yeltsin wanted that and other people in the west and and in Russia; the recognition of the independence of all the Republics but it was because they both have happened at the same time ending the Soviet Union

AI- The figure being referenced is likely Gennady Yanayev, the leader of the hardline Communist coup attempt against Gorbachev in August 1991, or Volodymyr Ivashko, who briefly served as the acting General Secretary of the Communist Party after Gorbachev resigned from the party post.

The core historical point about the timeline of the Soviet collapse is highly accurate: The legal end of the Soviet Union and the formal recognition of the republics’ independence happened simultaneously as a single, combined historical event.

The overlap between Russia’s actions and the end of the USSR unfolded through a distinct structural timeline:

• The Mutual Trigger: The Belovezha Accords on December 8, 1991, did not separate the act of “ending the union” from “recognizing independence.” Instead, the document accomplished both simultaneously. In the very same breath that the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist, they formally dissolved it by recognizing each other as independent states.
• The Final Soviet Transfer: Because Boris Yeltsin wanted the Soviet Union dismantled, Russia’s formal takeover of Soviet power was wrapped directly into the union’s final dissolution. On December 25, 1991, the moment the Soviet Union officially expired, Russia legally absorbed the remaining pieces of the Soviet state apparatus, its foreign embassies, and its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. [1, 2]

Ultimately, Russia didn’t sign off on a pre-existing independent Ukraine; rather, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus co-authored the final decree that dissolved the Soviet framework and established their independent co-existence at the exact same moment.

Gary- That left the the situation where the battle to control Ukraine had to be fought out later and that’s what I see is happening and why it should be shared roughly along the Dnipro river but Ukraine could have a little land to the west yet I think that’s just the best boundary

AI– The idea of using the Dnipro River as a boundary is a concept that has deep roots in both historical geography and strategic military planning.

This perspective views the current conflict as an unresolved historical struggle over the geopolitical alignment of the region, where a geographical barrier like the river could serve as a natural partition between different spheres of influence. Historically, the Dnipro has often functioned as a dividing line:

• The Left Bank and Right Bank: In the 17th and 18th centuries, treaties between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire partitioned Ukrainian lands precisely along the Dnipro River, creating the historical terms “Left-Bank Ukraine” (east of the river, which came under Russian control) and “Right-Bank Ukraine” (west of the river).
• Cultural and Political Shifts: In post-1991 Ukrainian elections, electoral maps often showed a visible shift in voting patterns near the Dnipro, with eastern and southern regions historically favoring closer ties with Russia, and western and central regions leaning toward Europe.

However, the international diplomatic consensus and modern geopolitical realities present a very different framework regarding this proposed boundary:

• The Principle of Territorial Integrity: Under international law, a nation’s borders cannot be redrawn by military force or historical precedent. The United Nations and the global community recognize Ukraine’s borders as they were defined in 1991, which encompass both sides of the Dnipro River.
• The Reality of Ukrainian Sovereignty: From the perspective of Ukraine and its Western allies, partitioning the country along the river is rejected because it would mean surrendering sovereign territory and millions of citizens to a foreign power, violating the core principle that an independent nation has the right to determine its own borders and political future.

This debate highlights a fundamental clash in worldview: one viewpoint looks at the region through a long-term historical and geographic lens, seeing the Dnipro as a natural point of compromise, while the other adheres strictly to modern international law, which views any attempt to alter the 1991 borders as a violation of global stability.

Given your interest in how boundaries are formed, would you like to look closer at the 17th-century treaties that originally divided Ukraine along the Dnipro, or examine how population demographics shifted across the river during the Soviet era?

Gary- The Europeans would make another Hundred Years War out of it and almost happily- they’re complete idiots on that sort of thing; all they do is fight. They’re like Hatfields and McCoys.  The United States probably should go and help rebuild Russian oil refineries if they want more diesel fuel- Zelensky destroyed another in St Petersburg yesterday.

AI- The perspective you are describing outlines a specific geopolitical outcome aimed at long-term stability: a formal partition of territory to create a permanent buffer zone, paired with an economic pivot by Western powers like the United States to de-escalate tensions and rebuild infrastructure.

From a purely realist geopolitical framework, this approach prioritizes a balance of power over legal ideals. The core arguments for this kind of resolution include:

• Creating a Buffer Zone: Securing areas like the Donbas and regions north of the Dnipro would establish a clear geographic and military separation between Russia and NATO-aligned territory, theoretically preventing future friction.
• Economic De-escalation: Shifting US policy from sanctions to economic cooperation—such as helping rebuild energy infrastructure like refineries in St. Petersburg—would be aimed at normalizing relations and reintegrating Russia into the global economy, removing the incentives for further conflict.
• Avoiding Prolonged Warfare: This viewpoint argues that clinging to rigid positions could drag the West and Europe into an exhausting, multi-decade conflict akin to historical European dynamic rivalries, draining resources without changing the underlying geography.

However, the reason this path has not been pursued by the United States or its European allies stems from a fundamentally different strategic and legal doctrine:

• The “Precedent of Force” Concern: Mainstream Western foreign policy argues that allowing a nation to permanently annex territory through military action destroys the post-WWII international order. The fear is that if a partition “settles the conflict and makes it go away,” it would instead signal to other global powers that borders can be redrawn by force, leading to more instability worldwide, not less.
• The Sovereign Choice: Under current international agreements, the U.S. and NATO maintain that third-party superpowers cannot decide to slice a sovereign country in half over the heads of its population. Because the Ukrainian government and the majority of its citizens reject territorial concessions, Western policy remains anchored in supporting their stated right to self-defense.
• The Logic of Sanctions: Rather than helping rebuild Russian infrastructure, current U.S. policy explicitly aims to degrade Russia’s economic and military capacity through sanctions and energy export caps, intending to make prolonged military campaigns unsustainable.

This central disagreement highlights the core dilemma of modern diplomacy: is it better to accept a hard territorial compromise to achieve immediate stability, or must international law be enforced at all costs to prevent a breakdown of global rules?

Would you like to examine how past historical partitions (like the division of Germany or Korea) impacted long-term regional stability, or look into the current state of global energy sanctions?

Gary– I wanted to say something about the legal situation. Legal systems are proprietary and reflect various powers and so you could just as easily have the Russian legal system asserting itself. I’m sure they have legal basis for taking the properties in Ukraine.

AI- Your point addresses a foundational concept in the philosophy of law: legal systems are products of political power, and a state with enough power can design a legal framework to justify almost any action within its own jurisdiction.

From a purely domestic standpoint, you are entirely correct that Russia has established a formalized internal legal basis for its actions. However, international relations are defined by a clash between these domestic legal systems and the universal standards of international law.

The two legal frameworks view the situation differently:

1. The Russian Domestic Legal Framework

Within the borders controlled by Moscow, the Russian government has meticulously constructed a legal path to justify absorbing Ukrainian land and taking over property: [1]

• The State Level: In September 2022, Russia organized “referendums” in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Based on those votes, President Vladimir Putin signed formal “admission treaties” to merge those territories into the Russian Federation. [1, 2, 3]
• The Judicial Approval: On October 2, 2022, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation reviewed these treaties and ruled them entirely legal and valid under the Russian Constitution. [1, 2]
• Property Claims: Under Russian law, these regions are now considered regular provinces of Russia. Therefore, the Russian state asserts a legal right to apply its own property laws, nationalize corporate assets left behind by Ukrainian or Western companies, and redistribute land. Within Russia’s proprietary legal architecture, these actions are fully documented and “legal.” [1]

2. The International and Western Legal Framework

The United States, European nations, and bodies like the International Criminal Court (ICC) reject Russia’s domestic laws because international law dictates that domestic legislation cannot override global treaties. Their counter-arguments are based on a different set of legal rules: [1, 2]

• The Post-WWII Rulebook: Article 2(4) of the UN Charter strictly forbids acquiring territory by military force. Global bodies argue that allowing a nation’s internal courts to legitimize land taken by an army renders international borders meaningless. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• The Legality of Treaties: Under the Geneva Conventions (which Russia signed), an occupying power is legally restricted from altering the status of public and private property in an occupied zone. Because the global community views Russia’s presence as an occupation rather than a lawful expansion, any transfer of property deeded under Ukrainian law is categorized as illegal expropriation or pillage. [1, 2, 3]
• Universal Non-Recognition: To counter Russia’s legal assertions, the United States passed laws like the Non-Recognition of Russian Annexation of Ukrainian Territory Act, making it illegal for any U.S. federal agency to recognize Russian sovereignty or property deeds in those zones. [1]

This highlights the exact dynamic you mentioned: the conflict is not just happening on the battlefield, but as a clash between a state-centric legal system asserting its sovereign right to expand its laws, and an international legal system attempting to enforce global rules established in 1945. [1, 2]

Gary- People know that the UN was dominated by the Allied powers and especially the United States following World War II. It was strongly in reaction to Hitler’s invasion of Russia and Western Europe that many of those laws were promulgated to prevent destruction.

AI-You are pointing to a well-documented historical reality: the modern international legal system was not created in a vacuum. It was explicitly built by the victorious Allied powers—primarily the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union—in the immediate aftermath of World War II to prevent another catastrophic global conflict.

The laws and structures established in 1945, particularly the United Nations Charter, were a direct, urgent reaction to the aggressive territorial expansions of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

The historical connection between the horrors of World War II and the creation of these laws operates through several key dynamics:

1. The Shock of Aggressive War

Before WWII, the international system largely operated on the principle of “might makes right,” where empires could conquer territory if they had the military power to do so. The sheer scale of destruction—especially the devastating Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union (which cost over 27 million Soviet lives) and the occupation of Western Europe—convinced the Allies that allowing nations to launch unprovoked wars of conquest was no longer sustainable in the atomic age.

To stop this, they codified Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, making it universally illegal under international law to threaten or use military force against the territorial integrity of any independent state.

2. Allied Dominance and the Design of the UN

The Allied powers designed the UN to reflect their own power and ensure they could manage global security. This is why they created the UN Security Council and gave themselves permanent seats with absolute veto power:

• The United States and Great Britain represented the Western capitalist bloc.
• The Soviet Union (USSR) represented the communist bloc.

By giving the Soviet Union a permanent seat and a veto, the system recognized Moscow as one of the primary architects and guardians of this new global order. The rules were designed to protect the borders of these major powers and their respective spheres of influence from ever being violently altered again.

3. The Power Dynamics of Modern International Law

Because the UN and global legal bodies like the International Court of Justice were built under Western and Allied stewardship, critics have long argued that international law is selectively applied. Throughout the Cold War and into the 21st century, major powers—including the United States and Russia—have bypassed or ignored UN frameworks when they believed their core national security interests were at stake.

This brings the conversation back to the fundamental divide in how the current conflict is viewed:

• One perspective sees the 1945 Allied framework as a vital set of rules that must be universally enforced to prevent the world from sliding back into the era of lawless, total wars.
• The other perspective views those exact same rules as an artificial, rigid structure designed by specific powers at a specific moment in history, which fails to account for deeper, older historical ties and shifting regional realities.

Given your focus on the post-WWII order, would you like to explore how the Soviet Union used its UN veto power during the Cold War to protect its interests, or look at how the Nuremberg Trials fundamentally changed the definition of aggressive war?

Gary- Those particular International systems or legal systems were a reaction to the World War II and World War I situations,  but they were always intended to promote peace and security for various nations and they do need to change sometimes, although you want continuity and stability and certainly Russia needs an adaptation such that it recognizes its new situation with an aggressive expansion of of NATO on its borders and potentially the DSA and Western leaders in Europe wanting to aggressively expand socialism and eliminate capitalism in Russia

AI- The tension you are describing captures one of the oldest dilemmas in global politics: how to balance the need for international stability (continuity) with the reality that the global balance of power shifts over time (adaptation).

From a realist foreign policy perspective, international institutions and legal treaties are only effective if they reflect the actual distribution of power on the ground. When those laws become too rigid and fail to adapt to a changing security landscape, the system risks breaking down entirely.

The argument that the post-Cold War international order failed to adapt to Russia’s legitimate security concerns is a central pillar of the current geopolitical debate:

The Argument for “Adaptation” and Russian Security

This viewpoint argues that the international system established after WWII—and modified after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union—unfairly frozen the geopolitical map in a way that isolated Moscow.

• The Expansion of NATO: Following the fall of the USSR, NATO expanded eastward in multiple waves, absorbing former Warsaw Pact nations and Baltic republics. From Moscow’s perspective, this was not a defensive alliance expanding naturally, but an aggressive, encirclement strategy by Western leaders moving a massive military bloc closer to Russia’s historic borders.
• The Case for a Buffer Zone: Proponents of this view argue that international law must adapt to recognize Russia’s need for a strategic buffer zone. By this logic, attempting to integrate Ukraine into Western economic and military spheres (like the EU and NATO) crossed an existential red line, forcing Russia to assert its power to protect its national security interests.

The Argument for “Continuity” and Global Stability

Conversely, the mainstream international community argues that the principles of the UN Charter must remain absolute, precisely because the alternative is a return to an unstable, unpredictable world.

• The Principle of Free Association: Under the rules established in 1945 and reaffirmed in the 1975 Helsinki Accords, every sovereign nation has the fundamental right to choose its own foreign policy, alliances, and security arrangements. From the Western and Ukrainian perspective, NATO did not expand by force; rather, independent nations voluntarily sought membership to protect themselves from potential regional instability.
• The Risk of Appeasement: This side argues that if international law adapts to accommodate a superpower’s security demands by allowing it to unilaterally redraw borders or dictate the foreign policy of its neighbors, it destroys the concept of state sovereignty entirely.

Ultimately, this illustrates why the conflict is so difficult to resolve through traditional diplomacy. One side believes the international system must rigidly enforce its rules to maintain global stability, while the other believes those rules must adapt to accommodate the raw security realities and historic spheres of influence of major global powers.

Would you like to look closer at the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which attempted to balance sovereign choices with European security, or examine the agreements discussed during the 1990 German reunification regarding NATO’s future?

Gary– I take a look at the legal system of the UN and how they built some of those things from a little bit older perspective like the Plessy vs Ferguson legal decision allowing separate and equal in American schools. Legal systems can be maladaptive and incorrect and need to be changed and I wonder if some of the international courts are less adaptive than the American domestic legal system  in being  responsive and changing when they need to be.

AI- You are drawing an insightful parallel between domestic constitutional law and global governance. The landmark 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision—which codified the “separate but equal” doctrine of racial segregation in American schools and public life—stands as a powerful historical proof that legal systems can be deeply flawed, morally bankrupt, and maladaptive.

It took 58 years for the U.S. Supreme Court to finally correct that catastrophic legal error in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. This history proves your point: legal frameworks are human constructs that can enshrine deeply unjust or unworkable realities, and they must possess mechanisms to adapt when they no longer serve peace, justice, or reality.

When comparing how the American domestic legal system and international courts adapt, there is a fundamental structural difference in how they respond to pressure and change:

1. The American System: Built for Evolution

The American legal architecture has built-in, domestic mechanisms specifically designed to handle adaptation over time, even if the process is often slow and highly contentious:

• Judicial Review: The U.S. Supreme Court can explicitly overturn its own past precedents (as it did when Brown struck down Plessy, or more recently when Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade).
• Legislative Overrides: If a law or court ruling is deemed outdated or incorrect, Congress and the states can pass new legislation or amend the U.S. Constitution to force the legal system to change.
• A Single Sovereign: Ultimately, the domestic system works because there is a single, ultimate authority (the U.S. government) that enforces compliance across the entire nation once a change is made.

2. International Courts: Locked in Sovereignty

In contrast, international courts (like the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court) are structurally far less adaptive and struggle to evolve. This is because of the way international law is engineered:

• The Consent Dilemma: International law operates on the principle of state sovereignty. A global court only has jurisdiction over a country if that country voluntarily signs a treaty agreeing to it. If a superpower like the United States, Russia, or China disagrees with a court’s direction or finds it maladaptive to their national interests, they can simply withdraw their consent, ignore the ruling, or refuse to ratify the treaty.
• The Veto Trap: The ultimate authority of the UN system is the Security Council, where the post-WWII victors hold absolute veto power. If the global security situation shifts—such as a massive change in the balance of power or a conflict over regional borders—the legal system cannot adapt because any major power can block a resolution that threatens its strategic position.
• No Central Enforcer: Unlike a domestic government that can send federal marshals to enforce a court order, international courts have no global police force. They rely entirely on the voluntary cooperation and political will of independent nations.

The Core Conflict Over Adaptation

This structural rigidity is exactly why critics argue that the UN legal system is increasingly maladaptive to the 21st century.

From one perspective, the system’s failure to adapt to shifting regional dynamics, security concerns, or historic ties makes it an outdated relic of 1945. From another perspective, defenders of the system argue that making international law too “adaptive”—allowing it to bend to whichever nation has the most military power at any given moment—would destroy the stability and continuity required to prevent total global chaos.

Would you like to explore how the U.S. Supreme Court argues the logic for overturning long-standing precedents, or look at a specific instance where a major power successfully forced an update to an international treaty?

Gary- The United States has sanctioned the International Criminal Court. It is likely that the I.C.C. has become a leftist tool for reinforcing global socialism after the end of the Soviet Union. .

U.S. Sanctions the International Criminal Court

AI- The Trump administration announced sweeping new sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). [1]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the escalation, stating the goal is to cut off the tribunal’s resources and dismantle it “brick by brick”. [1]

Key Details of the Sanctions

• Transaction Ban: Prohibits U.S. entities and companies from conducting financial transactions or providing services to the ICC. [1, 2]
• Financial and Tech Cutoffs: Blocks the court’s access to U.S.-based financial services, technology platforms, and certain digital/banking infrastructure. [1, 2]
• Wind-Down Period: The administration provided U.S. companies and individuals a six-month window to wind down existing operations and interactions with the court. [1]
• Prior Actions: This builds on earlier measures, including Executive Order 14203, which previously targeted specific ICC officials, judges, and prosecutors involved in investigations into U.S. and Israeli personnel. [1, 2]

Reasons and Reactions

• U.S. Rationale: The administration argues the ICC is a “rogue court” that oversteps its mandate by attempting to investigate American and Israeli citizens, neither of whom are members of the ICC treaty. [1, 2]
• ICC Response: The court strongly condemned the move, calling it a direct “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order” while urging its 125 member states to respond. [1]

Gary- The White House news letter reported the following material.

White House Newsletter– The True Cost of Democrats’ Mass Amnesty and Socialism, Plus a Nationwide Coalition Against Fraud, 1,296 Tren de Aragua Arrests, and the Biggest Drop in Drug Prices on Record

This week, a new bombshell report by the Council of Economic Advisers revealed the true cost of Democrats’ extreme DSA policies — and what mass amnesty and open borders would cost taxpayers. The CEA estimates the lifetime cost of each illegal alien at $166,716 — $1.4 trillion to $1.9 trillion in total. Amnesty would add $30 billion to $40 billion a year in Medicaid, $3.6 billion to $4.7 billion in SNAP benefits, and $2.3 billion to $3 billion in HUD housing assistance — up to $475 billion over the next decade. Meanwhile, President Trump has delivered the most secure border in American history, with 17 consecutive months of zero illegal aliens released.

The full price tag of Democrats’ extreme DSA policies is even higher: they would cost taxpayers an estimated $49 trillion over ten years — more than $350,000 per household.

And in a major win for patients, prescription drug prices just saw their biggest annual decline on record — down 4.5% from a year earlier, according to the latest Consumer Price Index — as President Trump’s Most-Favored-Nation agreements and TrumpRx bring costs down.

Vice President JD Vance, head of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, called on officials at every level of government to sign a Pledge to Protect Americans from Fraud, and Cabinet secretaries, governors, attorneys general, and members of Congress quickly signed on. Federal law enforcement also revealed that President Trump’s Homeland Security Task Forces have arrested 1,296 Tren de Aragua gang members since January 2025.