The Kremlin may have been trying to undermine the ICJ’s authority by making it a venue for specious legal arguments, say authorities.
Nicaragua’s case against Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which the Central American country accuses Berlin of facilitating a “genocide” in Gaza, likely came at the behest of Russia, Western intelligence officials and diplomats told POLITICO.
A detailed western intelligence assessment presented to POLITICO determined that Russia, which has close relations with Nicaragua’s authoritarian leaders, likely pushed their allies in Managua to use the so-called Genocide Convention of 1948 to pursue Germany at the ICJ.
The Nicaraguans “have no reason to inject themselves into a conflict over the Middle East,” one of the western intelligence officers said.
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For Putin, who seems to take a particular delight in trolling the Germans, humiliation may well have been part of the calculus.
Nicaragua shuttered its embassy in Berlin earlier this month as a result of the case. Neither the Nicaraguan mission to the United Nations in New York, nor its embassy in Vienna, which now covers Germany, responded to a request for comment.
The West shoe-horned themselves into the Middle East decades ago. The West currently has a “vested” interest because they’ve made an absolute mess of the Middle East, when there was never a good reason for getting involved in the first place. Historically, the West has done in the exactly what they’re now accusing Nicaragua of.
Additionally, it’s particularly ironic due to America’s historical meddling in Nicaragua.
I’m making no comment on Nicaragua making this move in good faith. I agree it’s obvious that they’re a pawn. I’m only pointing out the hypocrisy.
Don’t rob people in the ME of their own agency. The West has messed up a lot, but so have the locals. Both are at least equally to blame.
Definitely not equally. Responsibility scales with power.