Calls to strip a former Austrian foreign minister of her citizenship set an abysmally low bar for rule of law<\/p>\n
Every time I hear about some new attempt by EU officials to sanction or otherwise institutionally punish their own people for saying things about Russia or Ukraine that they don\u2019t like, I\u2019m reminded how many legal rules and principles I learned in law school that they now treat as if they were printed on a roll of Charmin.
\nI also can\u2019t help but think of a scene from the iconic \u201990s movie,\u00a0\u2018Pretty Woman\u2019. The one where the hooker, played by Julia Roberts, tells her client played by Richard Gere: \u201cI can be anything you want me to be.\u201d
\nBut then it emerges that she actually has a whole lot of rules \u2013 from no kissing on the mouth to no drugs or emotional intimacy or disrespect.
\nUnfortunately for Western Europeans, their elites lack such high standards. The EU establishment brags about being defenders of democracy. But when it comes time to put their values to the test, they\u2019re far too keen to force their beloved democracy onto its back and let their own authoritarian tendencies gang-bang it every which way imaginable.
\nIn the latest example, Austrian lawmakers are reportedly seeking to strip one of their own \u2013 former Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl \u2013 of her citizenship, citing her Russian media appearances and role as director of a Russian think tank affiliated with St. Petersburg State University.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Austrian MPs want to strip ex-foreign minister of citizenship over Russia ties<\/p>\n
The head of the New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) faction accused Kneissl\u00a0in parliament of \u201csymbolically spreading only one message: Austria is the antechamber to Hell, Putin\u2019s Russia is the Garden of Eden.\u201d
\nIf they were forced to emerge from behind symbolism, a quick perusal of her GORKI think tank\u2019s website at the university reveals that Kneissl is promoting such values as \u201cmeritocracy instead of commercialization,\u201d\u00a0the need to preserve history from ideologically-driven revisionism,\u00a0and improvement of Russia\u2019s legal system.
\nShe has also promoted the importance of the rule of law, particularly amid geopolitical turbulence. \u201cWithout law, the world faces total chaos,\u201d Kneissl has said, adding that \u201ca clear understanding of legal language is essential for discussing complex issues, such as peace negotiations.\u201d\u00a0Sounds like perhaps her Austrian lawmaker critics swinging wildly in an attempt to punish her could benefit from a seminar in St. Petersburg.
\nLegal clarity is imperative to avoid the arbitrary punishment of voices that dissent from the establishment status quo. Which puts the ball back in the critics\u2019 court to articulate what precisely constitutes a violation of law.
\nAny frustrated rants about how someone is saying things they don\u2019t like and should face punishment for it can\u2019t be allowed to serve as a substitute for the need to prove unlawfulness based on clear criteria. And that can only be done with defined terms that are fairly applicable to all \u2013 not just on a case-by-case basis that leaves the average citizen guessing where the tripwire is, and why two people doing similar things get treated wildly differently.
\nThe unelected European Commission is basically using policy and the absolute outer bounds of executive prerogative powers (that is, the powers to decide foreign policy and national security strategy) as a substitute for the checks and balances of legal due process. And they absolutely neglect to define any terms in a way that people can understand, avoid punishment, or even argue coherently that they\u2019re not in breach. You want to accuse someone of working for Russia? What does that even mean? It\u2019s not like we\u2019re talking about Russian officials here.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
\u2018We are back in the Middle Ages\u2019: How the EU literally starves dissenting experts<\/p>\n
There seems to be a rampant and ridiculous assumption that because someone works in another country and agrees with its approach on certain things, they\u2019ve abandoned their integrity and values at the border \u2013 along with their critical faculties. As if employment abroad automatically comes with a complimentary lobotomy.
\nIf the EU starts applying this test to every nation they get into a squabble with, then good luck dealing with all the government officials of various European nations who have served American interests through think tanks or corporations.
\nThe case of former Swiss Colonel Jacques Baud is another example of vaguely defined sanctions terms having the potential to impose a chilling effect on basic rights of freedom of expression and labor under European law \u2013 and against the most basic principles of democracy.
\nEU sanctions, imposed by the executive, describe him as a \u201cregular guest\u00a0on pro-Russian television and radio programmes. He acts as a mouthpiece for\u00a0pro-Russian propaganda and makes conspiracy theories, for example accusing\u00a0Ukraine of orchestrating its own invasion in order to join NATO. Therefore, Jacques Baud is responsible for, implementing or supporting actions or\u00a0policies attributable to the Government of the Russian Federation which\u00a0undermine or threaten stability or security in a third country (Ukraine) by\u00a0engaging in the use of information manipulation and interference.\u201d
\nHold on. Let\u2019s break this down, shall we? Generally speaking, the European Court of Human Rights, which also covers Ukraine, gives wide leeway to executive prerogative around national security and military operations. But is this person\u2019s conduct connected to serious international security concerns like hostile intelligence, warfare, or terrorism? Or is a \u201cthreat to Ukraine\u201d being invoked as a magic phrase to bypass normal democratic safeguards?<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU energy policies \u2018illegal\u2019 \u2013 ex-Austrian foreign minister (VIDEO)<\/p>\n
The only element cited is a conspiracy theory suggesting that Ukraine wanted to be invaded to get into NATO \u2013 clearly an idiotic premise, but are dumb remarks made in public grounds for sanctions now? Where exactly is the red line? Does this precedent suggest that you\u2019d better make sure that what you\u2019re saying publicly about Ukraine is always factual? If so, then who\u2019s the arbiter of acceptable truth \u2013 and as of which update? Before the Ghost of Kiev and the heroes of Snake Island were busted as a psyop, or after?
\nWhat is the causal link between someone spewing a conspiracy in public and \u201cundermining the security and stability of Ukraine\u201d? Is Jacques Baud a Marvel character and this is his superpower?
\nAnd how does one avoid being a \u201cmouthpiece,\u201d exactly? Or \u201csupporting policies,\u201d or engaging in \u201cinformation manipulation\u201d as opposed to legally protected analysis that happens to be either inconvenient or perhaps inaccurate? People have to be able to regulate their conduct and foresee consequences under the law. Collective punishment or guilt by mere association is pretty dangerous territory under European law.
\nOr is there something more going on here that isn\u2019t being said \u2013 perhaps other reasons for the sanctions that somehow didn\u2019t make it into the official explanation? And if so, why not just say that?
\nUntil there\u2019s some clarification on these issues, EU brass is violating not just the European Convention on Human Rights and basic principles of legal certainty, but imposing standards on democracy itself that are so low, after it\u2019s been made to put out \u201cfor Ukraine,\u201d that the average brothel in Amsterdam\u2019s Red Light district would give it the boot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Calls to strip a former Austrian foreign minister of her citizenship set an abysmally low bar for rule of law Every time I hear about some new attempt by EU…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}