Ratko Mladic paces alone in a cell. He was captured after a long manhunt and is being held for trial without bail. He is accused of murdering thousands of young men and women. Yet, within his own country he was not in prison, indeed, his countrymen provided him with safety and made a manhunt necessary. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-gartonash-monsters-20110602,0,6031707.story
A country's borders no longer prevent justice. When unreasoned violence is widely used against citizens, a country's borders no longer prevent accountability. Ratko Mladic is held accountable today. Bin Laden is a just earlier example and Saddam Hussein, yet earlier. Most such criminals have an opportunity to prove their innocence. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43239574/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/un-panel-libya-forces-committed-war-crimes/43229093
In past times leaders got away with oppression and murder. Jopheph Stalin was a well known "iron glove" ruler who ordered many citizens murdered.
Our present idea of justice is a spin off from the World War II war crime trials. The people of Earth object to crimes against humanity so strongly that many countries have united together. We have an international court whose jurisprudence includes crimes against humanity.
Today the citizens of several mid-eastern countries are rising up in objection to oppressive leadership. Those people want access to the sort of life that we all hold dear. The right to communicate, to peacefully assemble, to worship freely, to create a better tomorrow for their children. And to have some say in the government that rules them.
This is an effort of many people against a very few who would destroy us for their own personal ideology.