👩‍🏫 A lesson with Luce 👩‍🏫

Mōrena lil shits!!

TGIF!!! Never have I ever looked forward to the weekends more than after starting this newsy. The idea that I could actually have a 7am sleep in? BLISS. But the idea that I have two days without talking to you? Not bliss.

:-( 

I don’t have a bunch to report on today except for the fact that I’m loving the new Rex Orange County album (so you should go and listen) and I’m loving both WeCrashed & The Dropout (so you should go and watch) and I’m loving every single one of you who has decided to support the media u love!!

HERE

In today’s edish:

• A Lesson with Luce: What is a war crime and how does the UN work?

• New episode of The Shit Show!

• Noel Gallagher takes aim at Harry Styles 'worthless' music

• Remember when I wrote about the blocking of the no-confidence vote in Pakistan? Turns out it was illegal

• Have some horoscopes!

• Do you put your mugs/cups in the cupboard upside down or right way up?

Russia is out here committing war crimes

Right, so this isn’t the nicest story to read or to write about, but it’s a really good time for us to take a step back and understand a little bit more about how the world is supposed to work - so let’s do that, shall we? (Damn that sounded nerdy.)

First - what is a war crime?

It may not seem like it, but yes, even war has rules (I can’t tell you how good it feels to be finally putting my degree in International Relations to good use!) These ‘rules’ sit within treaties like the Geneva Conventions and a bunch of other international laws and agreements. Here are a few of them:

• Civilians cannot be deliberately attacked - nor can the infrastructure that is vital to their survival.

• Some weapons are banned because of the indiscriminate or appalling suffering they cause - such as anti-personnel landmines and chemical or biological weapons.

• The sick and wounded must be cared for - including injured soldiers, who have rights as prisoners of war.

• Serious offences such as murder, rape or mass persecution of a group are known as "crimes against humanity."

So what war crimes have Russia allegedly committed?

The most recent allegations against Russia claim that the bodies of over 400 civilians have been found in Bucha, a city in the Kyiv region. According to The New York Times: 

“Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said the bodies of 410 people, apparently all civilians, have been recovered from the Kyiv region. Human Rights Watch said it had documented cases of rape, executions and looting of civilian property.

The New York Times has reported accounts of indiscriminate killings, torture and other violence against civilians. The I.C.C. had already launched a criminal investigation of possible war crimes in early March.’

And from the BBC:

“Ukrainian forces say they have found mass graves and there's evidence of civilians having been shot dead after their feet and hands were bound.”

How has Russia responded to these allegations??

How we’d expect them to - by denying, denying, denying. Some Russian TV channels are saying that these scenes were ‘staged’ by Ukraine, and some channels say that the civilians have been killed by Ukrainians themselves. The Russian Defense Ministry even said that "not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions."

What has Zelenskyy done?

Well, he’s reached out to the UN Security Council and basically said, if you don’t/can't act on this, WTF is the point of the UN?

Just quickly, how does the UN Security Council work?

The Security Council (UNSC) is like a section or an organ of the United Nations, tasked with maintaining international peace and security. There are - importantly - 5 permanent members of the UNSC: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Why these five countries? Well, they (or their successor states) were the victors of World War II, which was when the UNSC was formed. There are ten other non-permanent members of the UNSC, who are elected on a regional basis for a term of two years.

Incredibly importantly, all the permanent member states get veto power, WHICH MEANS THAT IF ONE OF THEM VOTES AGAINST SOMETHING, IT DOESN’T HAPPEN.

The veto power is contro. Supporters of it think it’s a promoter of international stability and a critical safeguard against United States domination. Critics of it reckon that it’s the most undemocratic element of the UN, as well as the main cause of inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity. WHICH IS WHAT WE ARE SEEING NOW. 

Right now you have Russia allegedly committing war crimes, but if the UNSC want to do anything about it, Russia also have the power to veto any potential action.

So where does Zelenskyy come in? 

President Zelenskyy just delivered a damning speech to the UNSC, essentially saying that they had to do something, otherwise there was no point to the world body. AND POINTS WERE MADE.

In the speech, Zelensky said there was "not a single crime" that the Russians "would not commit," alleging that Russian troops had "searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country."

"They shot and killed women outside their houses when they just tried to call someone ... They killed entire families, adults and children and they tried to burn the bodies."

"Some of them were shot on the streets. Others were thrown into wells, so they died there suffering. They were killed in their apartments, houses, blown up by grenades. Civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road, just for their pleasure.”

"Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them."

He then questioned the UNSC on what their actual job was here: 

“We are dealing with a state that turns the right of veto in the UN Security Council into a right to kill.

Which undermines the whole architecture of global security.

Which allows evil to go unpunished and spread throughout the world. Destroying everything that can work for peace and security.

If this continues, the finale will be that each state will rely only on the power of arms to ensure its security, not on international law, not on international institutions.

Then, the UN can simply be dissolved.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Are you ready for the dissolving of the UN? Do you think that the time of international law has passed?

If your answer is no, you need to act now, act immediately.”

Here’s his full speech, and I hope this lil lesson gave you a bit more background on how these 'global governments' work (or don't work!)

AND, Nick and I just recorded you a new episode about all of this AND MORE!

Yes, Wars Do Have Rules - The Shit Show — open.spotify.com

So Russia is committing war crimes, which means we should probably talk about the rules of war. What are they? What constitutes a war crime? What are the UN doing about it? How does the UN work? What is a veto power? All your questions are answered with your usual dose of banter, in this weeks episode of The Shit Show!

Noel Gallagher takes aim at Harry Styles 'worthless' music

Nice to know that Noel Gallagher spends as much time thinking about Harry Styles as we all do. Not so nice that he feels the need to do him dirty like this tho: 

“Speaking as Harry returned with his new solo single, 'As It Was', the 54-year-old rocker suggested 'X Factor' stars don't work as hard as "real" musicians.

"You're not telling me Harry Styles is currently in a room somewhere writing a song.

With any joy, he'll be surrounded by a lot of girls.

I can assure you he's not got an acoustic guitar out trying to write a middle eight for something."

This isn’t the first time he’s used Harry’s name to try and stay relo (relevant.) Back in 2017 he also said - or moaned rather:

"People of my age have let themselves go, they're fat, balding idiots with fading tattoos.

They sit in their garage and write s**** like 'Sign Of The Times' for Harry Styles. Which, quite frankly, my cat could have written in about 10 minutes!"

Read this article if you want, or don’t!

Listen to Harry ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Please become a SYSCA SUPPORTER so I can keep doing this for you 🥺 — shityoushouldcareabout.memberful.com

Remember when I wrote about the blocking of the no-confidence vote in Pakistan?

Turns out it was illegal. If you want a refresher on what happened you can read about it here, but in a nutshell, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party refused to hold a no-confidence vote which would have ousted him. Instead, they dissolved parliament and called a snap election. Khan maintains (without evidence) that the political opposition “was in a conspiracy with the US to remove him because of his friendly relations with Russia and China,” which is a claim that Washington strongly denies.

To me, this all seemed all extremely chill and normal and fine (sarcasm), but the Supreme Court has found that Mr Khan's move to block the no-confidence vote was "contrary to the constitution and the law and had no legal effect” and that his dissolution of parliament is ‘invalid.’

The story ends with the Supreme Court ordering parliament to reconvene on Saturday to proceed with the no-confidence vote, which is expected to go against Mr Khan. What a ride eh!?

It’s Friday! Have some horoscopes!

HERE

Do you put your cups/ mugs upside down or right way up?

I REALLY DON'T HAVE A PREFERENCE - I feel like it has a lot to do with space in the cupboard, and how I'm feeling on the day.

• 41% put them away upside down

• 59% put them away the right way up

• The Slap isn't even the worst thing that's happened at the Oscars (Culture Vulture)

• Yes, even wars have rules (The Shit Show)

• Welcome to the girlbossification of crypto (The Washington Post)

• Rihanna Just Made Forbes' Billionaires List (Paper)

• The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia Replace Kanye West as Coachella 2022 Headliners (Pitchfork)

• Some women shared the messages they get on Instagram. It’s not pretty. (The Washington Post)

• Can Computers Learn Common Sense? (The New Yorker)

• The 2021 mental state of the world report

• What a trip: research suggests mushrooms talk to each other with a vocabulary of 50 words (Screenshot)

• Throwback to an app I loved and did an assignment on at uni which no longer exists. “With Quartz's App, You Don't Read the News. You Chat With It”  (Wired)

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LOVE YOU THE MOST, LUCE XX