RE: National Sovereignty

Very insightful comments, Carlos! Thank you. I think the snip from your
post I've included may say better what I've been trying to articulate. In
essence, until we get a better defined rule regime, it is not rational to
abandon on an ad hoc basis the current regime based on national
sovereignty, non-intervention, and international covenants that justify
exceptions.

//CJR

On Thu, 29 Apr 1999, Carlos Alzugaray Treto wrote:

> Charles Reid and Pat Gunning are engaged in a debate about national
> sovereignty and human rights which, I think, misplaces the real issue.
> 
[Snip ...]
> 
> That national sovereignty (and sovereign equality) should not be tampered
> with by the way of intervention is based in a long tradition that results
> from the fact that when others interfere in the internal affairs of another
> state, it has brought negative results for the countries where the
> intervention has taken place. In the past, Cuba, Dominican Republica, Haiti,
> Nicaragua, Vietnam, Congo, Chile, have been the object of different kinds of
> intervention with atrocious consequences. That is why national sovereignty,
> and non-intervention, are principles that should be respected. The new
> 'right of humanitarian intervention' would bring about the demise of these
> principles already established and lead the international system down a road
> that would be catstrophic.