If Trump Falls, He Takes the Whole World With Him
African debate on the International Criminal Court offers lessons on managing Trump’s latest act of desperation
As we enter a Post-COVID-19 world, a new attack was launched upon the sanctity of the international system by our favorite populist, US President Mr Donald Trump. In the last acts of a desperate man, he’s trying to stay afloat amid tidal changes in American politics.
I should not have been gobsmacked when the BBC news announced that President Donald Trump imposed sanctions upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) officials (and possibly their families) who are deciding on whether to investigate US war crimes in Afghanistan.
With cases of murder and torture in Afghanistan surfacing from the US military court over the years, US war crimes has long been an international scandal.
The US is not all bad. It took action against human rights violations abroad for instance in the Panjwai massacre, Sergeant Robert Bales was convicted for life for the murder of 16 people, 9 of which were children. Following usual US practice Bales was tried under US military law however, what angered the National Assembly of Afghanistan was that the US failed to investigate a further 20 US soldiers for their roles in the killing. Importantly, there is no alternative court for aggrieved Afghan…
