The impetus for the current U.S. offensive against the ICC is that its judges are currently considering whether to authorize the prosecutor to investigate alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan, including by the U.S. military and the CIA. The potential scenario of Americans being prosecuted by an international court for crimes committed abroad is exactly the scenario Bolton and other opponents warned about in the court’s early days.The US is against anything and anybody it does not control.
While liberalism is based on rationality as the chief characteristic of humans, the US acts based on dominance and submission, which is is an instinctual evolutionary trait characteristic of brutes.
The result is a loss of soft power based on the US being perceived as the beacon of liberty.
Slate
Why John Bolton Is So Obsessed With the International Criminal Court
Joshua Keating
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Abunimah told Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear on Monday that Bolton's comments are "a continuation of that US tradition of demanding total impunity for itself and, of course, for its vassal, Israel."
See also
The decision by John Bolton, the national security adviser to US President Donald Trump, to threaten sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday highlights the belief that the US is exempt from being punished for its war crimes, Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, told Sputnik.Who is POTUS now anyway?
Abunimah told Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear on Monday that Bolton's comments are "a continuation of that US tradition of demanding total impunity for itself and, of course, for its vassal, Israel."
Should be "master" instead of "vassal."
Sputnik International
Bolton ‘Demanding Total Impunity' in Remarks on International Criminal Court
Sputnik International
Bolton ‘Demanding Total Impunity' in Remarks on International Criminal Court
4 comments:
The ICC (International Court of Criminals) has done the Empire’s bidding for sixteen years, issuing arrest warrants for whoever the Empire has wanted to silence.
But now the ICC is considering prosecuting members of the Empire for torturing their victims in Afghanistan.
Why did the ICC go off the reservation? I don’t know yet.
In any case the ICC move is merely symbolic, since the USA has never been an ICC member.
“The US is against anything and anybody it does not control.”
Yes, because whatever is not under US control is seen as a “threat.”
If Jesus Christ was alive today, spreading love and compassion, the USA would condemn him a “dictator” who “gasses his own people.”
Should be "master" instead of "vassal."
Some Jewish supremacists (e.g. Noam Chomsky) camouflage their loyalty to Israel by claiming that Israel is a “victim” that is forced to do America’s bidding.
Konrad,
Chomsky doesn't say that. He says Israel made a "choice" in 1967. It had a choice between peace or permanent war and colonisation. It chose war and colonisation. To achieve this goal, and since it can't be done alone, it needs the might of the empire: the gigantic but free air force, navy, army, intelligence capabilities and huge amounts of never ending money to stay afloat. In return, the empire gets an armed garrison state that will always do its bidding because it now has no choice. If Israel refuses, the empire inflicts colossal financial and military damage. And Chomsky isn't a Jewish supremacist. He's anything but: he's for a binational state as an interim measure, until a single state can be attained.
I've never seen Chomsky claim that Israel is a victim. Even if he did say that, given his outright hostility to a religious settler state, the context would be important. Speaking for myself, I would say that Israel has become a "victim" of its own insane ethno-nationalism, fanatical racism and expansionist ambitions. When it finally disappears, it'll be because it was a victim of its own insatiable greed, warmongering and the Rabbinic madness that blesses the murder of non-Jews as a holy act. Similarly the present empire is a "victim" of its own hubris, greed, racism, religious madness and nativism. When the powder keg that is the United States explodes, it'll be nasty and very sad. Millions of ordinary people are going to get caught up in something truly horrible. Innocent people are victims of the hubris and madness of the elites.
Millions of ordinary people are going to get caught up in something truly horrible. Innocent people are victims of the hubris and madness of the elites.
This is what is so sad. I would not so anti-war if it just warriors doing battle hand to hand, if that's their choice.
Now most people involved don't get to choose and have no power to choose otherwise.
On the other hand, a sage was once asked why the people had to suffer so much, and he said that it was because when the ruler acted unjustly no one stood up against so that now all have to share the consequences.
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