The US president "completely suppressed" Washington’s role in fanning the flames of the Ukraine conflict, ignoring the fact that his administration helped stage a coup in Ukraine in 2014, argued Christopher C. Black, international criminal lawyer with 20 years of experience in war crimes and international relations, and a commentator on international affairs, in an interview with Sputnik. According to Black, the US is "the prime criminal and violator of international law," and doesn't "care about anybody's sovereignty."
Sputnik: Joe Biden dedicated the first part of his UNGA speech to Ukraine. Do you think the US’ role in fueling this conflict was reflected in his address?
Christopher C. Black: No, it was completely suppressed. He blamed everything on Russia and totally ignored the fact that Russia had to act to stop an invasion by the Ukrainian forces in February-March, that the Americans and NATO overthrew the elected government in Ukraine in 2014 and have been promoting war there ever since. That was all suppressed.
Sputnik: Biden said that Russia "shamelessly violated" the UN Charter. Does the US itself practice what it preaches in that regard?
Christopher C. Black: No. This is another set of astonishing lies by the president of the United States, which is not uncommon for them in these speeches. The United States is the prime criminal and violator of international law. They invaded, they attacked Yugoslavia for three months in 1999. They threatened to wipe out Belgrade and kill 500,000 people unless President [Slobodan] Milosevic surrendered.
They invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, right after that, killed hundreds of thousands of people, destroyed those countries. They've attacked Libya and destroyed that, murdered [Muammar] Gadhafi. They hang Saddam Hussein. They'd respect nobody's sovereignty. They kept referring to sovereignty, but they don't care about anybody's sovereignty.
Sputnik: He mentioned both the G7 and G20 in his speech. Do you think that when it comes to international security, there is as much support within the G20 as he's getting within the G7 for his opinions?
Christopher C. Black: No, it's quite clear that the larger world community supports Russia and China, and Iran, all of whom he attacked, and the DPRK and Venezuela. It is strange that he said that the world should have a chance to develop and yet any country that develops, they attack. So no. And then he talked about adhering to the UN charter and all international law and then immediately referred to the sanctions against Russia not causing a great problem, but those sanctions themselves are a violation of the UN Charter and are completely illegal. And nobody laughed. I was surprised that nobody stood up and just laughed outright in his face when he said that. It's just amazing.
Sputnik: Do you think that the grain problem that he mentioned is really as big as it is? Is Russia really responsible for the big problem here or are we dealing with kind of a PR stunt on Biden's part?
Christopher C. Black: That's basically a public relations stunt because it's quite clear that Russia has done everything along with Turkey to try and assist exporters of grain to get the grain out of Ukraine. There have been all sorts of tricks blocking that or redirecting the shipments from third world countries, so-called South countries, to Europe and so on. Even in Canada, farmers are complaining to the government that they can't get fertilizer because most of it comes from Russia, which surprised me.
But it's true. And the government says, well, "too bad for you." But it's not Russia blocking them is, it's Canada blocking the entry and the shipping of those things.
Sputnik: Besides Biden, there were numerous leaders at today's UN General Assembly. There was the Iranian president, there were African leaders, and they mentioned problems that he was also talking about, but in a different light, namely international security, food security, health, and environment. Do you think their speeches will get as much attention in the mainstream media as Biden's speech?
Christopher C. Black: No, especially the Iranians will be totally ignored here. The only thing they mentioned today on CNN, I noticed, was Iran's statement that they want to get justice for the murder by the United States of General Soleimani in Iraq a couple of years ago. And that's a murder that Biden didn't apologize for.
The statements by other world leaders will be suppressed and Biden's will be promoted as another example of American so-called democracy, which doesn't really exist in the United States any longer.