Germany's Call for French Nuclear Protection Gets Reality Check
Five months later, the talks between Berlin and Paris about expanding the scope of France's deterrent against Russia's growing aggression are shaping up as an evolution, not a revolution, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
New legal action launched against Syria's Assad after French court ruling
New legal proceedings have been set in motion against Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad, after France's top court cleared the way for prosecution now that he no longer holds office. French prosecutors have asked magistrates to issue a new arrest warrant for Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad over a deadly 2013 chemical attack, following the annulment of a previous warrant due to presidential immunity. The move comes after France's top court, the Court of Cassation, last Friday quashed a 2023 warrant targeting Assad while he was still in power. The court ruled that heads of state are protected by personal immunity – even in cases involving alleged war crimes or crimes against humanity. However, the court's president, Christophe Soulard, said that since Assad was toppled by Islamist-led fighters in December 2024, fresh arrest warrants may now be issued, and the investigation can proceed. France's highest court to rule on arrest warrant for ex-Syrian president Assad French authorities have been investigating the sarin gas attacks on Adra and Douma, near Damascus, which took place on 4 to 5 August 2013. More than 1,000 people were killed, according to US intelligence. Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the command structure behind the attack. On Friday, the National Anti-Terror Prosecutor's Office confirmed it had requested 'the issuing and international dissemination' of a new warrant against Assad. Assad and his family fled to Russia following his ouster, according to Russian officials. Setback for accountability The Court of Cassation's ruling on Friday has drawn criticism from human rights advocates who had hoped the court would set a precedent by lifting immunity in the face of grave international crimes. 'This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law,' said Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, which is a civil party in the case. Still, the court did uphold indictments in related cases under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows French courts to prosecute serious international crimes committed abroad. In particular, the court backed legal action against former Syrian central bank governor Adib Mayaleh, accused of funding the Assad regime during the conflict. Mayaleh, a naturalised French citizen, is charged with complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity. Darwish welcomed this element of the ruling as a 'great victory,' stating it reinforces that no foreign official can hide behind immunity in cases of international crimes. France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad Broader legal efforts The French inquiry into the 2013 attack is based on testimonies from survivors, defectors, and extensive photographic and video evidence. Arrest warrants have previously been issued for Assad, his brother Maher – commander of an elite military unit – and two generals. In January, French magistrates issued a separate arrest warrant against Assad over a 2017 bombing in Deraa that killed a French-Syrian civilian. Syria's civil war, triggered by a brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests in 2011, has left over half a million people dead and displaced millions. Assad's fall marked the end of his family's five-decade rule.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Trump to Give Putin New Ukraine Truce Deadline
US President Donald Trump said he would shorten his timeline for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to reach a truce with Ukraine or face potential economic penalties. On July 14, Trump announced a 50-day deadline on Russia, threatening to impose stiff economic penalties on Putin if he did not end hostilities with Ukraine. The Kremlin hasn't commented publicly so far on Trump's new deadline. Bloomberg's Adam Blenford reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Putin Wants Something He Can't Get
Vladimir Putin, in his own telling, is no ordinary leader. He's a lawyer on the throne. From the very beginning of his tenure, he has leaned on his legal background as part of his presidential persona. The reflex never left him. 'After all, I have a law degree,' he told a group of businessmen in May, responding to concerns that a peace deal might bring Western competitors back into Russia. 'If you give me the agreement, I'll flip through it and tell you what needs to be done.' We tend to think of a dictator as someone who tramples the law — and that's absolutely true. But for a dictator like Mr. Putin, who rose from the disciplined ranks of the security services to the presidency by following orders, it is just as important to be able to cite the law as to break it. Today, every new wave of political repression in Russia is preceded by the passage or revision of a law — so that more and more people can be punished 'according to the law,' rather than in violation of it. The endless expansion of the legal order in service of one man's power eventually calls for a higher justification. Indeed, Mr. Putin's entire political career has been a search for a source of legitimacy deeper than the law itself, a personal obsession with proving his authority. This, as much as conquest, is what drives his war on Ukraine: The aim is to turn military victory into Russia's return ticket to the club of the world's great powers. But that remains impossible without recognition from the West. And increasingly, that seems like something Mr. Putin can't get. Legitimacy is a perennial problem for dictators. However strong they may appear, they always suffer from a deficit of it. Their power, after all, is not the result of popular preference. This explains autocrats' fondness for rigged referendums and elections: A referendum was how Mr. Putin extended his tenure in 2020, and elections, held every six years, are used to provide a veneer of popular consent to his rule. Yet there's only so much succor a dictator can draw from rubber-stamping. For many dictators, credibility truly comes on the world stage. Official visits and summits, along with successful military campaigns, are proof of their legitimacy. In the early years of Mr. Putin's tenure, this worked. He held court with Western leaders and won victories in the second Chechen war. But when his decision to return to the presidency in 2012 set off major protests, he began a new fight for so-called traditional Russian values against corrosive Western influence. This shift in emphasis entailed direct confrontation with the West, with Ukraine the proving ground. The annexation of Crimea, presented as the correction of a historical injustice, soon followed, along with the incursion into eastern Ukraine. The full-scale invasion of the country in 2022, conceived as a brilliant blitzkrieg, consummated the adversarial approach. These were strikingly successful attempts to win support at home. But they were also efforts to refashion, not break, Russia's relations with the West. Even after the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin still pursued negotiations — most notably the Minsk agreements — aiming to end diplomatic isolation and reclaim its seat at the table of major powers. Those efforts foundered and Mr. Putin chose to up the stakes. Yet even today, the Kremlin is willing to show some degree of flexibility. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
