“Rules have value only if they bind everyone, especially those powerful enough to break them...” - Czech President Petr Pavel.
President Petr Pavel, delivered an absolute masterclass on how to handle the world's biggest bullies.
He completely shreds putin’s murderous, unhinged invasion of Ukraine, and then turns right around to put Xi’s feet to the fire for quietly enabling the whole thing while pretending to be neutral.
He basically calls out both regimes for holding global security hostage and acting like international law doesn't apply to them.
Pavel:
“Rules have value only if they bind everyone, especially those powerful enough to break them. When rules are cast aside, raw power fills the vacuum. A world dominated by great power competition is a volatile world, less able to address the most pressing challenges of our time. It is a world where a single spark can ignite a fire. Instead, we should insist that with greater power comes greater responsibility. Responsibility in the use of force, responsibility to exercise restraint, but also responsibility to use one's influence to prevent force from becoming necessary in the first place. This applies particularly to permanent members of the UN Security Council.
China has the power, influence and responsibility to help prevent conflicts, to escalate tensions and contribute to ending wars. This includes using its influence to help bring Russia's aggression against Ukraine to an end. That aggression was launched and continues to be waged by another permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia, in violation of the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law.
Russia's aggression continues to inflict enormous suffering on the Ukrainian people. Civilians and civilian infrastructure continue to be attacked indiscriminately. And risks are growing day by day. Russia's aggressive posture poses a direct threat to European security as a whole. The immediacy of that threat was starkly illustrated by the recent attempted Russian drone attack on Leipzig Halle Airport in Germany, only 150 kilometers from the borders of Czech Republic.”