"All may look dark today, but still; light goes through cracks" says returning guest professor Alfred de Zayas. De Zayas talks about international law and censorship, the human rights industry, and the corruption of institutions, like NATO.

Alfred de Zayas is a former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order (2012-18), former senior lawyer with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee.  He is Professor of international law and world history at the Geneva School of Diplomacy.

This 100 minute interview is packed with expert level analyses on many of the current geopolitical issues, linked below in chapters.

0:00:00 introduction
0:04:09 Ukraine war
0:14:03 wars in a unipolar world
0:17:23 proposals for peace
0:23:23 Putin and  the hawks of war
0:25:31 censorship and the European Digital Services Act
0:36:15 the price for independence of UN special rapporteurs
0:40:08 Nils Melzer and the Trial of Assange
0:46:15 the position of the US dollar
0:52:11 NATO, Dutch politics, Mark Rutte and the succession of Stoltenberg
1:02:00 US presidents; Clinton, Obama and Bush and the crimes of NATO
1:10:47 The Human Rights Industry (new book)

De Zayas: "Russia is restrained in their actions in Ukraine, however when Ukraine escalates for example by blowing up the Crimean bridge, there's going to be retaliations. The tragedy is that hundreds of thousands of young people and also elderly people, civilians who have nothing to do with the war, have lost their lives on the altar of NATO expansion".

The UN charter is superior to the treaty of NATO. We should observe our obligation not to threaten other countries, not to engage in systematic disinformation and demonization of Russia. We are violating the UN Charter. Obviously the invasion of Russia in Ukraine is also a violation, that's a given. But it was provoked.

It's a question of how we can mediate so that they [red. the US] can retreat without loosing too much face, but they will  have to retreat, because it's either accept that Russian and China exist and live with it, or you're going to have to destroy the entire world.

August 25th the EU Digital Services Act goes into effect, allowing the European Commission to invoke censorship through big tech companies. De Zayas explains how that is in violation with the right to freedom of speech.

The United Nations has appointed many experts and special rapporteurs. They're obliged to be independent, but if you are, the price is you're going to be mobbed. De Zayas talks about the procedure during his appointment of United Nations Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order and that of Nils Melzer as special rapporteur for torture. Melzer who during his term took on the case of Julian Assange and determined Assange to show signs of a victim of torture.

further reading and links:

https://potkaars.nl/blog/2023/8/5/nato-deserves-the-label-of-criminal-organisation-alfred-de-zayas 

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