Russo-Ukrainian War Demonstrates Importance of Legal Blogs as Compared to Law Reviews, Journals and Books

The Russo-Ukranian war demonstrates the importance of legal blogs as compared to the insight and commentary in law reviews, journals and books.

Blogs provide fast coverage, a platform upon which legal authorities can build on each other’s coverage and information and commentary needed now, as opposed to that found months or years later in legal reviews, journals and books.

Rens Steenhard, writing for an international law library, the Peace Law Library, has curated a list of international legal blog posts on the Russo-Ukrainian war.

The reason being that ”It will be some time before international law books and articles about this new phase of the conflict appear.”

“On 24 February 2022, Russia began a military invasion of Ukraine, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that began in 2014. It is the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. With over 3.1 million Ukrainians fleeing the country, the invasion has also caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe since then. Much has already been written about the annexation of Crimea and the ongoing war between pro-Russian separatist forces and Ukraine in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the east of Ukraine. That is why we have now searched for blogs from international legal scientists. Here is a curated list for you of relevant international legal blogs from the past three weeks.”

Immigration issues are but one are of the law requiring legal commentary, per Steenhard.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine was widely condemned internationally. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution which condemned it and demanded a full withdrawal. The International Court of Justice ordered Russia to suspend military operations, and the Council of Europe expelled Russia. Many countries imposed new sanctions, which have led to economic consequences for Russia and the world economy. Various countries gave humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. Protests occurred around the world; those in Russia have been met with mass arrests and increased media censorship, including banning the terms “war” and “invasion”. Some companies withdrew their products and services from sale in Russia and Belarus.

The invasion of Ukraine was appraised by many international jurists as a violation of the UN Charter and constituted a crime of aggression according to international criminal law, raising the possibility that the crime of aggression could be prosecuted under universal jurisdiction. The invasion also violated the Rome Statute, which prohibits “the invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State or part thereof”. Ukraine had not ratified the Rome Statute and Russia withdrew its signature from it in 2016. Below a list of blogs containing views, opinions and commentaries from people from the field.” [Curated list]

For those lawyers, whether practicing or in academia, the importance of legal blogs as compared to law journals, reviews and books has always been evident.

The war is demonstrating their importance on an international scale.