Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February this year was met with near universal condemnation by Western nations. While aggression of this kind and on this scale has been relatively anomalous this side of World War II, Russia’s disregard for the laws and institutions upholding global peace and security is far from unprecedented. In this week’s episode of The ABR Podcast, Ben Saul reads his commentary piece from the July issue, arguing that Western disrespect for international law – from NATO’s intervention in Kosovo to the US-led invasion of Iraq to Australia’s detention of asylum seekers – is entirely consistent with Russia’s violation of ‘a stable, mutually agreed world order’. If, as Saul warns, ‘we expect Russia and China to be law-abiding, we must also look in the mirror’.

Ben Saul is Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney, an Associate Fellow of Chatham House in London, and has taught law at Harvard and Oxford.

This is one of a series of politics columns generously supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

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