Victors Justice, Iraqi Style

If the loser smiled the winner will lose the thrill of victory.

The alliance victory defined borders between the neighboring states.

The history books are not yet written, nor the victor declared.

The victorious DPJ may not immediately set off any political fireworks.

But its close association with the United States led invasion leaves it vulnerable to the charge of victor s justice.

The British, after a defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, sent a large force to track down and destroy the victorious German cruiser squadron.

All of this occurred very peacefully, with no wave of triumphalism, or even much enthusiasm.

Whoever triumphs in future elections will lack the legitimacy that only a majority can provide.

The very moment he appears on the world s television screens, victorious and smiling, America s image and soft power would experience something like a Copernican revolution.

A prize of war is a piece of military property seized by the victorious party after a war or battle, typically at sea.

Even in the case of those bilateral treaties intended to establish a permanent condition of things, there is nothing to prevent a victorious belligerent from dissolving them in the peace treaty.

The US conceived of itself as the Cold War's winner, and winners, it seems, make the rules.

The only way to avoid it is to be more committed to the process of electing a government freely and fairly than to the leader or party that is elected, even when the victor is frankly inimical to your interests.

Without full control of either the evidence or the accused, the ICTY lacked from the outset the legitimacy and authority of victors justice.

The victorious coalition follows Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who can be described as a moderate Islamist, but many of its members are extreme.

But, as the smoke dissipates from that vote, it has become clear that the real victor is neither the leading opposition Democratic Party (DPJ) nor the electorate.

Nuremberg happened because the Allies inflicted unconditional surrender on the Nazis and so could impose a so called victor s justice.

The history books are not yet written, nor the victor declared. Financial reform could still go belly up.

But in this matter as well, the winner gets to judge who was the aggressor, so it is fortunate that Hitler did not prevail.

Yet Iran may already see itself as victorious, with the current Iraqi government friendlier than any the Iranians have ever known.

The victor of the Cold War now expects other nations to indulge its philosophy of self righteousness.

Moreover, in the absence of an impartial judge, a winner can always impose his truth upon the vanquished, as happened with the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.

Indeed, the very foundation of Iraq was based on victors justice the British Empire, having vanquished the Ottomans, made the Sunni Arabs overlords in a country in which they were a minority.

NAIROBI Kenya s fiercely contested presidential election in March, and its disputed outcome, has left the victor, Uhuru Kenyatta, with a daunting challenge to unite a country riven with ethnic violence and distrust.

But a mere two years after winning the World Cup in 2011, several members of that victorious team have been replaced a decision that until recently would have seemed unthinkable.

During WWII, the city fell to Hitler's armies and plans were made to dissemble the monument and haul it back to Germany, before the Soviet Army triumphantly retook Novgorod in 1944.

The Kingdom of SwedenIt is not known when and how the kingdom of Sweden was born, but the list of Swedish monarchs is drawn from the first kings known to have ruled both Svealand (Sweden) and Götaland (Gothia) as one province, beginning with Eric the Victorious.

One lesson from Lebanon s recent history stands out above all others in divided political societies such as Lebanon and Iraq, coalition democracy is preferable to majoritarian winner takes all democracy.

Similarly, while competitive elections are essential to any democratic system, a winner take all attitude to electoral outcomes, with the victor concentrating power, is incompatible with democracy in the long term.

If Obama can make a difference, it is not because of his policy choices, but because of what he is. The very moment he appears on the world s television screens, victorious and smiling, America s image and soft power would experience something like a Copernican revolution.

All of this occurred very peacefully, with no wave of triumphalism, or even much enthusiasm. Indeed, the abstention rate for a presidential election had never been higher before the contest between Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

But, however sincere his words may sound, reality is moving in the opposite direction, and the ugly verbal exchanges surrounding the act of execution itself will certainly do little to dispel the notion that this was victors justice the victors being not the United States, but the Shi a.