The United States' response to the crisis in Ukraine is "considerable, but it's probably not enough to stop" Russian President Vladimir Putin, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Wednesday.
"Putin is not going to stop based on economic sanctions," Dershowitz said on Newsmax's "National Report." "He's only going to stop based on his own considerations. We're in a very, very tough spot. I don't know how differently any president would deal with this."
Dershowitz said he is glad to see economic pressure growing on Russia, but he still thinks more pressure would come if Putin would be indicted by the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor has opened a war crimes investigation on him, along with some of Putin's generals.
The United States should also postpone any dealings with Iran, considering Russia's nuclear weapons threats.
"This should teach us a lesson that we have a very difficult time dealing with people who can bully other people based on nuclear weapons," said Dershowitz. "If Iran ever would have developed nuclear weapons, it would make Russia seem weak by comparison because they would go into the Emirates, they would go into Saudi Arabia, and they might attack Israel."
Dershowitz also said that it should be a "last resort" for the United States and NATO to create a no-fly zone for Ukraine.
"I've also come up with another interesting proposal that I wonder if people will take seriously and that is to immediately offer the Nobel Peace Prize to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy," said Dershowitz. "Normally the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in the fall, but he may not be alive in the fall to accept it. If the world gets together to offer Zelenskyy the award it would make it harder for Putin to order his assassination, which otherwise might very likely happen. He is the No. 1 target at this point."
Dershowitz also on Wednesday said he thinks China will prove crucial in helping Russia and Ukraine negotiate peace, particularly if China puts pressure on Russia.
"China and Russia are so close together economically and politically, it could have an enormous impact," he said. "I welcome the role of China if they are indeed going to be an honest broker and not just use it to increase the power of their ally, Putin, but it's worth trying."
Dershowitz, in other matters, discussed the conviction of Guy Reffitt, the Texas man who was found guilty of all charges in the first criminal trial from the Jan. 6, 2021 breach at the Capitol.
"Well I'm involved in one of the other pending cases," said Dershowitz, explaining he is representing a law student who "did nothing violent and just went into the Capitol, he believed, at the invitation of the police."
He said he thinks all the Jan. 6 cases must be tried individually and judged on their own merits, as "we should not be lumping people together. The evidence, in this case, was very different from the evidence in, for example, my client's case, so every case has to be considered different."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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