US President Donald Trump's decision to apply more and more stringent sanctions to International Criminal Court personnel involved in the investigation, harassment, or arrest of American citizens is another aspect of his determined battle to change the face of the sick international system to which we've become accustomed in the past few decades.
Trump's criticism of his country's NATO partners; his withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran; his departure from UNESCO and UN Human Rights Council; the non-renewal of agreements to prevent an arms race with Russia; the end to cooperation with and funding for the WHO; and now harsher sanctions on the ICC are all seen by his opponents and critics as a policy of stepping back from the management of world matters and re-direction of focus onto US domestic issues. In other words, Trump is releasing the US from its role as the policeman of the world โ but that is an incorrect analysis. The opposite is true. Trump is taking the job of world policeman seriously, and while his predecessors assented to the rotten, corrupt, and biased conduct in the international arena, Trump wants to clean house and get rid of the politicization that took over these institutions.
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Like most other international organizations, the ICC has turned from an institution that fought for a better, more just world into a tool that dark regimes wield against western democracies. Not a trace is left of the wonderful ideals that stood behind the establishment of a world legal mechanism that would stand up against war crimes and crimes against humanity. The former ruler of Sudan, Gen. Omar al-Bashir, who was supposed to stand trial in The Hague for his part in genocide and other horrific crimes โ and for whom an international arrest warrant was issued โ still hasn't been turned over to the court, even though his regime has been toppled. Before his ouster, he visited countries like Turkey (which is not an ICC member) and South Africa (which was), without any fear of being handed over to the authorities.ย
The inefficacy of the ICC, in that case, should have launched a process of review and the institution of major reforms. But the prosecution preferred to do what international organizations do when they fail: look into the possibility of putting on trail representatives of democracies such as the US, Britain, and of course, Israel.
Trump's approach is simpler: the US does not cooperate with anyone who operates against it or its allies, especially Israel; the US will no longer fund organizations that harm the interests of the US and its allies; and the US punishes those who use international systems to promote values that go against the values of the west and benefit evil regimes. That is how a good international cop behaves.ย
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