Law of the jungle We're unlikely to see despots like Putin face justice in a courtroom

It's tempting to hope the establishment last week of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, to give its full name, will lead to the trial and indefinite incarceration of Vladimir Putin and Russian leaders. After all, the new court is backed by about 40 countries, including the UK and the EU. Only fools like Donald Trump are confused about who the aggressor is in this conflict.

- By Simon Tisdall

Sadly, this appealing notion has scant basis in reality. Ducking peace talks and dodging responsibility for the war he started, a smirking Putin manspreads smugly in the safety of the Kremlin. He also hides behind the outdated convention that serving heads of state enjoy legal immunity. The bottom line is unchanging: Russia will ignore the new tribunal, just as it ignores arrest warrants for Putin over alleged war crimes brought by the international criminal court (ICC).

So why is this lawless state of affairs tolerated? One factor is that autocratic allies like China's Xi Jinping, rightwing extremists like Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and powerful states like the US also reject international jurisdiction, fearing it may constrain them.

International law is the foundation stone of the post-1945 global order. Yet everywhere, or so it seems, its principles, institutions and practitioners are challenged and undermined by politicians and governments whose duty is to uphold it. Whatever consensus previously existed is collapsing.

The days when nations could sit down together and agree the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as in 1948, are over.