The war criminal and former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, accused the international court that convicted him of crimes against humanity of being manipulated by the West, and said prosecutors had paid witnesses to testify against him. Appearing in court at The Hague for a pre-sentencing hearing, Taylor claimed that witnesses at the trial had been "paid, coerced, and in many cases threatened with prosecution if they did not co-operate". Taylor, who is due to be sentenced on 30 May, was convicted last month at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Judges found him guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and conscripting child soldiers. They found he had helped rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone continue their rampage during the West African nation's decade-long civil war, which ended in 2002 with more than 50,000 dead. – UK Independent

Dominant Social Theme: Another son-of-a-gun has been brought to justice. Good.

Free-Market Analysis: In a long-ago article, "World Justice Meme Emerges," we reported on Charles Taylor and the devious way he had ended up on trial.

This power elite, apparently, that wants to run the world has seemingly been struggling to erect a world court. As usual, the strategy is to use indignation. Only the worst "monsters" and "beasts" are being brought to trial. But wait.

Just as with any other elite facility, the World Court shall eventually become most familiar to those with the assets, resources or courage to stand up against the elite's vision of global governance.

This is the reason George Soros apparently funded the court and the reason it has been so active of late. The resistance to world government shall come from a variety of funny little countries, and it shall be necessary to put their leaders on trial in order to crush that resistance.

The trial of Taylor was surely a premeditated act as we pointed out previously. It was planned and carried out to make Taylor an example. Here is some of what we wrote:

Now to Charles Taylor himself. According to [an] article in NEXT (seemingly a fairly major Nigerian news site) Charles Taylor ceded power in Liberia after agreeing to a deal that would allow him to take refuge in Nigeria.

Of course, Taylor seems like a fairly mean piece of work. Here's how the Digital Journal (which is covering the trial) puts it: "Prosecutors claim Taylor helped plunge Sierra Leone into civil war from 1992-2002 using the 'blood diamonds' to finance armies of drugged child soldiers from his neighbouring country of Liberia. The conflict inspired the Hollywood movie Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou."

Generally speaking, war is a dirty business (as WikiLeaks has shown us once again); still, a deal is a deal (or maybe not?). Taylor apparently gave up power and Nigeria took him in. One might think that was the end of the story, but due to pressure from the United States and Europe (especially the Bush Administration) the deal was abrogated and Taylor was flushed out of Nigeria and flown to the Hague where he is now standing trial. Here's how Femi Fani-Kayode puts it:

"This was the betrayal of the century and, in my view, those that should have known better panicked at the last minute and broke ranks. But I do not believe that Obasanjo was amongst those that betrayed anybody. To be fair to [Nigerian] President Olusegun Obasanjo he was, in fact, the last man standing and he resisted the pressure until it all came to a head during a state visit to America when George W. Bush refused to see him until Taylor was produced. Ironically the real traitor was not Obasanjo but rather President Ellen Sirlief-Johnson of Liberia."

Now Taylor himself has spoken out. He has "expressed sadness for the victims of the civil war" and for the families. He didn't apologize though; he merely stated that his actions were meant to create stability in Liberia.

"I express my sadness and sympathy for crimes suffered by individuals and families in Sierra Leone," he said. "What I did… was done with honor. I was convinced that unless there was peace in Sierra Leone, Liberia would not be able to move forward."

Defence attorney, Courtenay Griffiths, summed it up as follows: "If you are a small, weak nation, you may be subject to the full force of international law, whereas if you run a powerful nation you have nothing to fear".

It is like the US income tax – a bad idea to begin with and one that shall get steadily worse.