Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-02-26]: The international community is imposing sanctions to Libya, while thoughts of NATO intervention are lingering in the "air"... In the context of "International Law", every "civilized" (western) leader is ready to intervene in a foreign country in order to defend "human rights". But what are these human rights? Is the self-determination a "human right"? Is the right to "conduct civil" war a human right of a country's peoples? Would we like our neighbor to come into our house when he hears a fight? Would we like "aliens" to intervene during the Second World War? What constitues a "war crime", that may give the right of NATO to invade legally sovereign countries? If today the international community has the "right" to intervene in Libya due to the "unjust massacre" of protesters there, we should also consider answering the question: is there a "just massacre"? How many western leaders now crying for "justice", had been going out for dinner with Gadhafi only months ago? The limits of "international law" are based on many definitions. And definitions are always subjective...
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