STEPHANOPOULOS: And meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it pretty clear that he agreed with President Obama to give until the end of the year for this whole process of engagement to work. After that, he’s prepared to take matters into his own hands.
Is that the right approach?
BIDEN: Look, Israel can determine for itself as a sovereign nation what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Whether we agree or not?
BIDEN: Whether we agree or not. They’re entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that. But there is no pressure from any nation that’s going to alter our behavior as to how to proceed.
Georgetown international law expert Tony Arend opines:
From the perspective of international law, Biden’s comments are actually quite troubling. Under the United Nations Charter, states do not have the unilateral sovereign right to use military force “if they make a determination, that they’re existentially threatened, their survival is threatened by another country.” States have the right to use force in self-defense under Article 51 “if an armed attack occurs.” Most commentators would argue that customary international law recognizes that states can use force in self-defense in advance of an actual armed attack, if such attack is imminent.
By using this formulation, Biden is going well beyond the Charter framework for the use of force. ...
Interestingly enough, Biden’s comments seems to be consistent with the controversial position on preemption articulated by the Bush Administration in the 2002 National Security Strategy. Is that really where the Obama Administration wants to be? I wonder whether others in the Administration will issue a “clarification” of the Vice President’s comments? If not, Biden’s comments may just be yet another indicator that the UN Charter framework for the recourse to force is dead.
It may also be another example of how Obama's foreign policy is less of a change from that of Bush 43 than some expected.
Alternatively, it might be an example of why you shouldn't hire as your lawyer someone who graduated 75th in a class of 85 (or some such) from Syracuse.
Posted by: y81 | 07/07/2009 at 09:38 AM