Power tends to corrupt, as the British historian Lord Acton famously said. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. If you doubt his words, look no further than this compelling book by Steve Crawshaw, former chief correspondent at The Independent and former UK director at Human Rights Watch. Starting with the Second World War and stretching through the Balkans and Rwanda to Syria, Gaza and Ukraine, Prosecuting the Powerful brims with examples of men who took control, abused their position, wrought death and destruction on their own citizens and/or those of other nations and thought themselves untouchable. So far, so depressing. But, while the human capacity for inflicting suffering appears limitless, the desire for justice burns brightly and insistently. In 1992, when Crawshaw asked Slobodan Miloevi if he was worried about standing trial for war crimes, the Serbian president batted away the question. Nine years later, he was in the dock in The Hague. We cannot know whether Vladimir Putin will ever face retribution for his actions in Ukraine, but one thing is for sure: with Crawshaw and others on the case, he had better watch his back.