JIMMIE JOHNSON: A FLATBED OF BODY BAGS SITS OUT FRONT OF A CEMETERY NORTHWEST OF UKRAINE’S CAPITAL CITY OF KYIV.
ONE-BY-ONE VOLUNTEERS CONDUCT THE PAINSTAKINGLY GRUESOME TASK OF RETRIEVING BODIES.
UKRAINIAN VOLUNTEER: “they are lying there. Some of them shot in the head. Some of them are shot blindfolded, with tied hands”
JIMMIE: VICTIMS WERE KILLED IN WHAT PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY IS CALLING A GENOCIDE.
CBS ANCHOR: “Is this genocide? Zelensky: “Indeed. This is genocide.”
JIMMIE: SO, WHAT CONSTITUTES A GENOCIDE AS OPPOSED TO OTHER WAR CRIMES.
LET ME EXPLAIN.
ARTICLE TWO OF THE 1948 GENOCIDE CONVENTION SAYS A GENOCIDE CONSISTS OF “ACTS COMMITTED WITH INTENT TO DESTROY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, A NATIONAL, ETHNICAL, RACIAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP…”
A FEW INSTANCES OF GENOCIDE IN THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES INCLUDE THE HOLOCAUST, CAMBODIAN AND RWANDAN GENOCIDES.
IN 1994, OVER THE COURSE OF ABOUT THREE MONTHS, THE HUTUS MURDERED UP TO 800-THOUSAND PEOPLE, MOSTLY OF THE TUTSI MINORITY IN RWANDA, AFRICA.
IN CAMBODIA, FROM 19-75 TO 19-79 THE KHYMER ROUGE MASSACRED ROUGHLY TWO MILLION PEOPLE. AND DURING THE HOLOCAUST, [1941-1945] THE NAZIS KILLED AROUND 6-MILLION JEWS IN EUROPE.
IN RESPONSE, THE TERM “GENOCIDE” WAS COINED BY A POLISH LAWYER NAMED RAPHAEL LEMKIN, ACCORDING TO THE UNITED NATIONS. HE PUSHED TO HAVE IT CODIFIED AS AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME.
NOW WORLD LEADERS ARE WALKING THE FINE LINE OF ACCUSING PUTIN OF GENOCIDE.
AT FIRST, WORLD LEADERS WERE WALKING A FINE LINE ACCUSING PUTIN OF GENOCIDE,
BORIS JOHNSON: ”what Putin has done in Ukraine doesn’t look far short of genocide to me.”
BUT WITH NO END IN SIGHT – LEADERS, INCLUDING BIDEN, ARE NOT MINCING WORDS.
BIDEN: ”Yes. I called it genocide.”
JIMMIE: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT TOOK PLACE IN BUCHA, UKRAINE?
LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.