The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
And one of the foundational elements of their claim that Russia is committing a crime against humanity is Russia's relentless campaign against Ukraine's infrastructure, that Russia has tried and tried and tried to totally annihilate Ukraine's infrastructure, which would plunge the country into unimaginable suffering.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
It hasn't been able to do it successfully because of Ukrainian defenses.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
And for a while, a lot of American support, now a lot of European support.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
Ukraine has been remarkably resilient.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
But he was trying to do something that we have condemned Vladimir Putin for attempting to do.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
He was threatening to do something that we have condemned Vladimir Putin for attempting to do.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
And by the way, and if he then ordered it, he doesn't just put it on Truth Social.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
Let's suppose he had given the order.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
If he had given an order to destroy, because this wasn't the first time he'd threatened a crime.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
If he'd given an order to destroy all power plants, all bridges, all desalinization plants, which supply people with drinking water, if he had actually delivered that order, it would have been an illegal order.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
Clearly illegal.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
Now, the Department of Defense Law of War Manual says there is an obligation to defy an order when it is clearly illegal.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
We were staring at the precipice of really an unprecedented crisis because if the military complies, you break the moral backbone of the military.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
That's been the foundation of 50 years of reform since Vietnam.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
You just break the moral backbone.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
If it defies a president,
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
not a junior commander, not a major, not a captain, not a colonel, but the commander-in-chief of
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
then you create a massive constitutional crisis, just massive.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
Because normally when somebody says, I'm not going to comply with an unlawful order, they have avenues to pursue.
The Bulwark Podcast
David French and Suhas Subramanyam: The Superpower Folded in Front of the Whole World
They can go up the chain of command, for example.