Resolved: The West should recognize Crimea as under Russian Sovereignty

I will now do the same and I will provide rebuttals to his arguments in Round 3. There are several reasons why the West should not recognize Crimea as under Russian sovereignty. Argument A: All territory or border alterations between two sovereign countries should be decided and agreed upon bilaterally by both countries in question. This follows from the Territorial Integrity principle of the International Law, [1] which applies to all sovereign states that are a part of the United Nations. An external nation-state should never influence secessionist movements or border changes. A border change should only be carried out after a diplomatic agreement between the two states. If a state were to unilaterally cause a border change, that change should be considered illegal and void under International Law. In the case of Crimea, an agreement regarding territorial transfer between Ukraine and Russia was never agreed upon, and, instead, Russia conducted a forceful annexation of Crimea, taking de facto control of the region and establishing a new government. This does not qualify as a lawful border change. If the West were to recognize this as a legal act, it would undermine the principles of International Law, which would result in undesirable consequences, such as the weakening of the Territorial Integrity principle worldwide. Argument B: Russian actions in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine violated International Law. While the annexation of Crimea was itself an illegal act under International Law, Russia conducted many additional actions which could be deemed illegal: 1) it broke the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, where it agreed to respect Ukraine’s international borders and refrain from the use of military force. In exchange, Ukraine signed a non-proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty. [2] 2) it supports additional secessionist movements, i. e. Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic, and supplies them with military equipment and personnel. [3] 3) it frequently denies access to international monitoring organizations, such as OSCE [4] 4) evidence of war crimes [5] The West has always strived to uphold the integrity of International Law and has always demanded that war crimes should be avoided. Russia has on several occasions violated these principles, and, thus, if the West makes concessions to Russia, these may be seen as an amnesty and exemption from many crimes. Similarly to the previous argument, any such concessions devalue the principles of justice and give unnecessary power to Russia, which is the aggressor state in this case. Argument C: Russia is an expansionist state that has to be kept in check. Following from the previous argument and looking at the current state of Russia, it becomes clear that currently it is an expansionist state, led by a nationalistic, authoritarian and corrupt government. [6] Its fairly recent wars, such as the Chechen and Georgian wars, and the creation of puppet states, such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia, demonstrate that Russia does not uphold the principles of International Law, and that it engages in frequent human rights violations and war crimes. It seeks only its own interests and sees the rights of other sovereign countries as inferior to its own. We know from historical examples that making concessions to aggressor states and ignoring their violations of International Law rarely brings any benefit. In fact, it often gives confidence to such states and results in even more territorial conflicts. [7] While I do not suggest that Russia will necessarily go on an expansionist military campaign à la Nazi Germany, I do think that it is a possibility that must not be ignored. The West and, particularly, NATO serve as a balancing force against Russia and act as a safeguard against such possibilities. NATO maintains and promotes security for many European countries. For these reasons, the West should not allow Russia to spread beyond its current borders, especially if that is done through means that breach International Law. References [1] . https://pesd.princeton.edu... [2] . http://www.cfr.org... [3] . http://www.thedailybeast.com... [4] . http://www.euractiv.com... [5] . https://www.amnesty.org... [6] . http://www.forbes.com... [7] . https://en.wikipedia.org...