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Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny - Feeding the Crocodile - JURIST - Commentary - Legal News & Commentary

<!DOCTYPE html><html xml:lang=en lang=en dir=ltr ><html xml:lang=en dir=ltr itemscope itemtype=http://schema.org/Blog lang=en-US><head prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns# fb: http://ogp.me/ns/fb# website: http://ogp.me/ns/website#"><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"><meta charset="utf-8"><link rel=stylesheet type=text/css media=all href=https://justatic.com/v/20240611a/external/jurist/css/core.css><title>Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny - Feeding the Crocodile - JURIST - Commentary - Legal News &amp; Commentary</title><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"><meta name="twitter:site" content=""><meta name="twitter:title" content="Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny &#8211; Feeding the Crocodile"><meta name="twitter:description" content="We all recall the famous photo in 1938 of the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepping off his plane holding up an agreement with Adolf Hitler that averted a possible conflict with..."><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.jurist.org/commentary/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/02/russia_flag_1644351197.jpg"><meta name="twitter:url" content="https://www.jurist.org/commentary/?p=103761"><meta name="twitter:label1" content="Written by"><meta name="twitter:data1" content="Sambhav Sharma | Amity Law School, IN"><meta name="twitter:label2" content="Est. reading time"><meta name="twitter:data2" content="3 minutes"><meta property="og:title" content="Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny &#8211; Feeding the Crocodile"><meta property="og:description" content="We all recall the famous photo in 1938 of the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepping off his plane holding up an agreement with Adolf Hitler that averted a possible conflict with..."><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.jurist.org/commentary/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/02/russia_flag_1644351197.jpg"><meta property="og:image:width" content="1200"><meta property="og:image:height" content="440"><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2022/02/david-crane-peace-in-our-time/"><link rel=publisher href=https://www.jurist.org/commentary><meta name="referrer" content="origin"><meta name="referrer" content="unsafe-url"><link rel="shortcut icon" href=https://justatic.com/v/20240611a/external/jurist/images/favicon.ico><link rel=canonical href=https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2022/02/david-crane-peace-in-our-time/ > <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-609467-1"></script> <script>window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-609467-1'); gtag('config', 'G-DP5FGPD5S5');</script> <script type=application/ld+json>{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BlogPosting", "name": "Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny &amp;#8211; Feeding the Crocodile", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2022/02/david-crane-peace-in-our-time/" }, "headline": "Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny &amp;#8211; Feeding the Crocodile", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.jurist.org/commentary/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/02/russia_flag_1644351197.jpg", "width": "1200", "height": "440", "representativeOfPage": "http://schema.org/True" }, "datePublished": "2022-02-09T16:01:42-05:00", "dateModified": "2022-02-09T16:06:49-05:00", "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sambhav Sharma | Amity Law School, IN", "url": "https://www.jurist.org/commentary/author/ssharma", "description": "" } ], "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": " - JURIST - Commentary - Legal News &amp; Commentary", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://justatic.com/v/20240611a/external/jurist/images/jurist/logos/jurist-header.svg", "height": "60", "width": "200" } }, "articleBody": "<p>We all recall the famous photo in 1938 of the United Kingdom\u2019s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepping off his plane <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/chamberlain-declares-peace-for-our-time-75-years-ago\">holding up an agreement<\/a> with Adolf Hitler that averted a possible conflict with Germany. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/chamberlain-declares-peace-for-our-time-75-years-ago\">gave away<\/a> the Sudetenland and the political independence of Czechoslovakia to do so. Chamberlain proudly declared \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/chamberlain-declares-peace-for-our-time-75-years-ago\">peace in our time<\/a>.\u201d Alas one year later, the world was plunged into a Second World War that saw the destruction of over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalww2museum.org\/students-teachers\/student-resources\/research-starters\/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war\">70 million<\/a> human beings. Historian Max Hastings <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2035784\/MAX-HASTINGS-reveals-horrors-Second-World-War-chilling-hand-testimonies.html\">stated<\/a> that for those five tragic years the dominant human emotion was fear and despair. Chamberlain\u2019s attempt of appeasing a tyrant had failed.<\/p>\n<p>Today, diplomacy is an important <a href=\"https:\/\/2009-2017.state.gov\/r\/pa\/ei\/rls\/dos\/107330.htm\">tool<\/a> in ensuring international peace and security. Settling disputes peacefully is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/chronicle\/article\/preventive-diplomacy-united-nations\">one<\/a> of the cornerstones of the United Nations paradigm, put in place over seventy-five years ago. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/research\/nato-the-un-and-the-use-of-force\/\">Use of force<\/a> in the modern era is a last resort and used for legitimate reasons, usually backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org\/Crimes\/CrimeOfAggression\">Aggression<\/a> is now an international crime. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coalitionfortheicc.org\/explore\/icc-crimes\/crime-aggression\">Rome Statute<\/a> deems a nation that invades the sovereign territory of another nation without legal authority as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coalitionfortheicc.org\/explore\/icc-crimes\/crime-aggression\">an act of aggression<\/a>. The nation could be held accountable for those acts\u2026in theory. The crime of aggression is a political act with political consequences, yet an appropriate legal resolution to aggression is illusory for all intents and purposes. At the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, in 1945, the Nazi defendants were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roberthjackson.org\/speech-and-writing\/the-influence-of-the-nuremberg-trial-on-international-criminal-law\/\">charged<\/a> with the crime of aggression. The majority were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalww2museum.org\/war\/articles\/the-nuremberg-trial-and-its-legacy\">found guilty<\/a> of that charge. It was the last time.<\/p>\n<p>Aggression is a disruptive act used to challenge international peace and security, but because it was perceived as a political act, nations are hesitant to respond. However, modern international criminal law has established a legal norm to address aggressive acts. Two decades of jurisprudence, procedure, and experience now allow us to deal with actions that disrupt international peace and security. It is an important legal standard.<\/p>\n<p>Yet in the Age of the Strongman, interest in accountability for international crimes has waned. Though there have been important efforts by domestic states, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondintractability.org\/casestudy\/davenport-role\">civil societies<\/a>, and various international <a href=\"https:\/\/iiim.un.org\/\">mechanisms<\/a> to account for atrocity, international leadership has been weak. Over the past several years the United Nations has shown little ability to control challenges to the international rule of law, a circumstance not seen since the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p>Another challenge to world order is that modern international criminal law has become a two-tiered legal system where several countries operate above the Rome paradigm of international criminal accountability. Russia, China, even the United States, (three fifths of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) are not state <a href=\"https:\/\/asp.icc-cpi.int\/en_menus\/asp\/states%20parties\/pages\/the%20states%20parties%20to%20the%20rome%20statute.aspx\">parties to the Rome Statute<\/a> that created the International Criminal Court. Russia and the United States have committed aggressive acts in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/30043987\">Iraq<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/u-s-relations-with-georgia\/\">Georgia<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/blog\/order-from-chaos\/2020\/03\/17\/crimea-six-years-after-illegal-annexation\/\">Crimea<\/a>. China currently is committing a genocide against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurist.org\/features\/2021\/02\/17\/where-international-justice-is-failing-the-uyghurs-economic-tactics-can-advance-real-change\/\">Uyghur people<\/a> and is not shy in considering aggression if and when it meets its political goals. Just remember <a href=\"https:\/\/thelogicalindian.com\/story-feed\/awareness\/conflict-between-tibet-and-china\/\">Tibet<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/06\/28\/world\/asia\/china-hong-kong-security-law.html\">Hong Kong<\/a>, and eventually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/07\/world\/asia\/taiwan-china-ukraine-russia.html\">Taiwan<\/a>. Thus far there has been no accountability for those acts.<\/p>\n<p>Today the international community is holding its breath as Russia prepares to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/02\/07\/latest-ukraine-russia-crisis\/\">invade<\/a> the Ukraine. Aggression once again seems to be a safe political act for a nation that feels it is above international law. NATO has begun to react to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2022\/01\/26\/nato-military-alliance-explained-russia-ukraine\/9211025002\/\">protect<\/a> its member states, but it can do little to stop the invasion. Even if it did do something, it could start another world war, a result no one wants. With no reason legally to invade the Ukraine, Russia is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/03\/us\/politics\/russia-ukraine-invasion-pretext.html\">fabricating false reasons<\/a> to do so, very much like Nazi Germany did when it invaded Poland in 1939. History shows that appeasement in the face of aggression never succeeds.<\/p>\n<p>The world is unstable for many reasons and this instability fosters situations where aggression becomes a powerful tool to be used by tyrants and strongmen. Democracies around the world tend to shrink from the thought of conflict and generally resort to force only when shocked into action. Remember <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6124125\/pearl-harbor-attack-aftermath-world-war-ii\/\">Pearl Harbor<\/a>. The default is appeasement through diplomacy.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, even with the crime of aggression under the rule of law in place, tyrants, as they always have, will turn to force and threaten their neighbors. Peace in our time is an aspiration worthy of our attention, but there will come a time, perhaps in weeks, that democracies will have to stand shoulder to shoulder to face down aggression by Russia, led by an autocrat, and restore international peace and security under the United Nations paradigm. Heed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/quotes\/10336\/\">words<\/a> of Winston S. Churchill, Neville Chamberlain\u2019s successor, \u201cAn appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Professor David M. Crane was the Founding Chief Prosecutor, UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. He is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Syracuse University College of Law; and Founder of the Global Accountability Network, which houses the Uyghur Accountability Project.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suggested citation:<\/strong> David M. Crane, Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny &#8211; Feeding the Crocodile, JURIST \u2013 Academic Commentary, February 9, 2022, https:\/\/www.jurist.org\/commentary\/2022\/02\/david-crane-peace-in-our-time\/.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small\">This article was prepared for publication by <a href=\"\/jurist_search.php?q=Sambhav+Sharma\">Sambhav Sharma<\/a>, a JURIST Staff Editor. Please direct any questions or comments to him at <a href=\"mailto:commentary@jurist.org\">commentary@jurist.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n" }</script> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="lst3shwiyZuYnuOj-DksZVuFLMY0n_insAX63BQTA4c"> <script async defer src=https://justatic.com/e/widgets/js/justia.js></script> </head><body class data-directive=j-gdpr data-privacy-policy-url=/privacy-policy/ ><div class=ui-overlay></div><header class=header id=header><div class="wrapper sides-margin"><div class=head><div class=header-logo> <a class=wrapper href=/ title=Jurist> <img alt=Jurist class=logo src=https://justatic.com/v/20240611a/external/jurist/images/jurist/logos/jurist-header.svg> </a></div><div class=header-cta><div class=wrapper> <a class="ui-button -darker" href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QVD82R93TVMAG" target=_self>DONATE NOW</a></div></div></div></div><nav class="header-nav sides-margin" role=navigation><div id=burger-menu class=burger-menu 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Appeasement and Tyranny &amp;#8211; Feeding the Crocodile"> <span class=label>Commentary</span><div class=credits><a href=https://pixabay.com/users/EvgeniT/ >EvgeniT</a> / Pixabay</div></div><div class=content><header> <strong class="ui-heading3 title"> <a href=#>Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny &#8211; Feeding the Crocodile</a> </strong><div class=metadata><div class=author> <span> <a href=https://www.jurist.org/commentary/tag/author-david-m-crane class="url fn author-author-david-m-crane author-255 post-author-link" rel=author> <span class=name> David M. Crane</span> </a> </span></div><div class=date> <time datetime=2022-02-09T16:01:42-05:00 class="post-date published">February 9, 2022 11:01:42 am</time></div></div><div class=share-links xmlns=http://www.w3.org/1999/html> <a class=twitter data-endpoint="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Peace%20in%20our%20Time%21%20Appeasement%20and%20Tyranny%20%E2%80%93%20Feeding%20the%20Crocodile&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jurist.org%2Fcommentary%2F%3Fp%3D103761&original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jurist.org%2Fcommentary%2F2022%2F02%2Fdavid-crane-peace-in-our-time%2F" target=_blank data-directive=j-iframe-popup data-width=600 data-height=600 data-category=Navigation data-action="Social Media" data-label=Twitter> <span class=logo> <svg class=ui-icon width=32 height=32 viewBox="0 0 96 96"> <use xlink:href=/justatic/external/jurist/images/icons/share-sprite.svg#twitter></use> </svg> </span> </a> <a class=linkedin data-endpoint="http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jurist.org%2Fcommentary%2F2022%2F02%2Fdavid-crane-peace-in-our-time%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dlinkedin%26utm_campaign%3Djurist-2022-02-09-103761&title=Peace%20in%20our%20Time%21%20Appeasement%20and%20Tyranny%20%E2%80%93%20Feeding%20the%20Crocodile" target=_blank data-directive=j-iframe-popup data-width=600 data-height=600 data-category=Navigation data-action="Social Media" data-label=LinkedIn> <span class=logo> <svg class=ui-icon width=32 height=32 viewBox="0 0 96 96"> <use xlink:href=/justatic/external/jurist/images/icons/share-sprite.svg#linkedin></use> </svg> </span> </a> <a class=facebook data-endpoint="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jurist.org%2Fcommentary%2F2022%2F02%2Fdavid-crane-peace-in-our-time%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_campaign%3Djurist-2022-02-09-103761" target=_blank data-directive=j-iframe-popup data-width=600 data-height=600 data-category=Navigation data-action="Social Media" data-label=Facebook> <span class=logo> <svg class=ui-icon width=32 height=32 viewBox="0 0 96 96"> <use xlink:href=/justatic/external/jurist/images/icons/share-sprite.svg#facebook></use> </svg> </span> </a></div><div class=_fsize-small> Edited by: <a href=https://www.jurist.org/commentary/author/ssharma>Sambhav Sharma | Amity Law School, IN</a></div></header><div class="body _no-margin-bottom _no-padding-bottom"><div class="ui-box _bg-gallery">Professor David M. Crane, Founding Chief Prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, analyzes the concepts of 'peace' and 'aggression' against the backdrop of the potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia...</div><p>We all recall the famous photo in 1938 of the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepping off his plane <a href=https://www.history.com/news/chamberlain-declares-peace-for-our-time-75-years-ago>holding up an agreement</a> with Adolf Hitler that averted a possible conflict with Germany. He <a href=https://www.history.com/news/chamberlain-declares-peace-for-our-time-75-years-ago>gave away</a> the Sudetenland and the political independence of Czechoslovakia to do so. Chamberlain proudly declared “<a href=https://www.history.com/news/chamberlain-declares-peace-for-our-time-75-years-ago>peace in our time</a>.” Alas one year later, the world was plunged into a Second World War that saw the destruction of over <a href=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war>70 million</a> human beings. Historian Max Hastings <a href=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2035784/MAX-HASTINGS-reveals-horrors-Second-World-War-chilling-hand-testimonies.html>stated</a> that for those five tragic years the dominant human emotion was fear and despair. Chamberlain’s attempt of appeasing a tyrant had failed.</p><p>Today, diplomacy is an important <a href=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/dos/107330.htm>tool</a> in ensuring international peace and security. Settling disputes peacefully is <a href=https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/preventive-diplomacy-united-nations>one</a> of the cornerstones of the United Nations paradigm, put in place over seventy-five years ago. <a href=https://www.brookings.edu/research/nato-the-un-and-the-use-of-force/ >Use of force</a> in the modern era is a last resort and used for legitimate reasons, usually backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution.</p><p><a href=https://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Crimes/CrimeOfAggression>Aggression</a> is now an international crime. The <a href=https://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/explore/icc-crimes/crime-aggression>Rome Statute</a> deems a nation that invades the sovereign territory of another nation without legal authority as <a href=https://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/explore/icc-crimes/crime-aggression>an act of aggression</a>. The nation could be held accountable for those acts…in theory. The crime of aggression is a political act with political consequences, yet an appropriate legal resolution to aggression is illusory for all intents and purposes. At the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, in 1945, the Nazi defendants were <a href=https://www.roberthjackson.org/speech-and-writing/the-influence-of-the-nuremberg-trial-on-international-criminal-law/ >charged</a> with the crime of aggression. The majority were <a href=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/the-nuremberg-trial-and-its-legacy>found guilty</a> of that charge. It was the last time.</p><p>Aggression is a disruptive act used to challenge international peace and security, but because it was perceived as a political act, nations are hesitant to respond. However, modern international criminal law has established a legal norm to address aggressive acts. Two decades of jurisprudence, procedure, and experience now allow us to deal with actions that disrupt international peace and security. It is an important legal standard.</p><p>Yet in the Age of the Strongman, interest in accountability for international crimes has waned. Though there have been important efforts by domestic states, <a href=https://www.beyondintractability.org/casestudy/davenport-role>civil societies</a>, and various international <a href=https://iiim.un.org/ >mechanisms</a> to account for atrocity, international leadership has been weak. Over the past several years the United Nations has shown little ability to control challenges to the international rule of law, a circumstance not seen since the Cold War.</p><p>Another challenge to world order is that modern international criminal law has become a two-tiered legal system where several countries operate above the Rome paradigm of international criminal accountability. Russia, China, even the United States, (three fifths of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) are not state <a href=https://asp.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/asp/states%20parties/pages/the%20states%20parties%20to%20the%20rome%20statute.aspx>parties to the Rome Statute</a> that created the International Criminal Court. Russia and the United States have committed aggressive acts in <a href=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30043987>Iraq</a>, <a href=https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-georgia/ >Georgia</a>, and the <a href=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/03/17/crimea-six-years-after-illegal-annexation/ >Crimea</a>. China currently is committing a genocide against the <a href=https://www.jurist.org/features/2021/02/17/where-international-justice-is-failing-the-uyghurs-economic-tactics-can-advance-real-change/ >Uyghur people</a> and is not shy in considering aggression if and when it meets its political goals. Just remember <a href=https://thelogicalindian.com/story-feed/awareness/conflict-between-tibet-and-china/ >Tibet</a>, <a href=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/world/asia/china-hong-kong-security-law.html>Hong Kong</a>, and eventually <a href=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/world/asia/taiwan-china-ukraine-russia.html>Taiwan</a>. Thus far there has been no accountability for those acts.</p><p>Today the international community is holding its breath as Russia prepares to <a href=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/latest-ukraine-russia-crisis/ >invade</a> the Ukraine. Aggression once again seems to be a safe political act for a nation that feels it is above international law. NATO has begun to react to <a href=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/26/nato-military-alliance-explained-russia-ukraine/9211025002/ >protect</a> its member states, but it can do little to stop the invasion. Even if it did do something, it could start another world war, a result no one wants. With no reason legally to invade the Ukraine, Russia is <a href=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/us/politics/russia-ukraine-invasion-pretext.html>fabricating false reasons</a> to do so, very much like Nazi Germany did when it invaded Poland in 1939. History shows that appeasement in the face of aggression never succeeds.</p><p>The world is unstable for many reasons and this instability fosters situations where aggression becomes a powerful tool to be used by tyrants and strongmen. Democracies around the world tend to shrink from the thought of conflict and generally resort to force only when shocked into action. Remember <a href=https://time.com/6124125/pearl-harbor-attack-aftermath-world-war-ii/ >Pearl Harbor</a>. The default is appeasement through diplomacy.</p><p>Alas, even with the crime of aggression under the rule of law in place, tyrants, as they always have, will turn to force and threaten their neighbors. Peace in our time is an aspiration worthy of our attention, but there will come a time, perhaps in weeks, that democracies will have to stand shoulder to shoulder to face down aggression by Russia, led by an autocrat, and restore international peace and security under the United Nations paradigm. Heed the <a href=https://www.forbes.com/quotes/10336/ >words</a> of Winston S. Churchill, Neville Chamberlain’s successor, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><em>Professor David M. Crane was the Founding Chief Prosecutor, UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. He is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Syracuse University College of Law; and Founder of the Global Accountability Network, which houses the Uyghur Accountability Project.</em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Suggested citation:</strong> David M. Crane, Peace in our Time! Appeasement and Tyranny &#8211; Feeding the Crocodile, JURIST – Academic Commentary, February 9, 2022, https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2022/02/david-crane-peace-in-our-time/.</p><hr><p><span style="font-size: xx-small">This article was prepared for publication by <a href="/jurist_search.php?q=Sambhav+Sharma">Sambhav Sharma</a>, a JURIST Staff Editor. 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