Thucydides’ famous Melian Dialogue came to mind when reading about President Trump’s demand that Ukraine surrender control over its natural resources and accept Russian control of additional territories. As described by Thucydides in the Melian Dialogue (416 BCE), Athens demands the submission of Melos, a weaker island state, offering it a stark choice: subjugation or destruction. Melos refuses to yield—and is annihilated. The harsh choice the U.S. has presented to Ukraine bears striking similarities to this ancient ultimatum. Therefore, I chose to construct an imaginary dialogue, heavily drawing on Thucydides’ original, imagining a conversation occurring in February 2025 in Kyiv between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (who presented President Trump’s proposal) and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. My argument: even if powerless to restrain those strong enough to disregard it, international law at least persists in declaring and condemning raw assertions of power as illegal. Thus, the project of international law has not been in vain. Indeed, the prohibition on forcible annexations remains absolute, constituting a jus cogens norm from which no derogation is permitted. “Bessent:”…
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International Law as a Common Heritage of Mankind
In 1990, when the European Journal of International Law (EJIL) had its first issue, its founders, including myself, obviously stressed in their first editorial the link between international law and the construction of the European Union. The socio-political context in which the Journal had just been launched was very different from that which prevails today.
Starlink and International Law: The Challenge of Corporate Sovereignty in Outer Space
SpaceX’s Starlink project is transforming Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with an unprecedented “mega-constellation” of satellites. Originally planned for 12,000 satellites, Starlink has since expanded its ambition to 42,000 satellites – five times the number of all objects humans had ever launched into space prior to this project. This massive private deployment promises global internet coverage, but…
Mind Your Attitude: The Erosion of International Law?
Recurring breaches and non-enforcement of international law have persisted since the adoption of the UN Charter and the establishment of the post-World War II (WWII) legal order, which remains in place today. Scholars have repeatedly issued death certificates to Article 2.4 of the UN Charter and have raised fundamental questions about the weaknesses of this legal system and…
UNSC Resolution 2774: The Implications of Equidistance for Ukraine and International Law
On February 24th, 2025, the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted its first resolution on the matter. Resolution 2774 was adopted with ten votes in favour (Algeria, China, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, Russia, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, United States of America) and five abstentions (Denmark, France,…