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I managed to amass a pretty good horde of downvotes the other day with a sentiment that mirrored this comic. I probably meandered and missed my meaning but the comic author nails it
You arrest the leader of a belligerent faction by forming an army and defeating their army. Not by knocking on their door and serving papers. The ICC really doesn’t have any purpose except punishing the losers once the war is over. The winners always seem to walk free, no matter what heinous shit they did to get that win.
Play out the game theory of that in your head and think about what effect the threat of war crimes prosecution for losers (only) has on how and when leaders commit war crimes. (Hint: it strongly encourages doing ANYTHING to make sure you win)
It does limit travel options. Bibi wouldn't be able to vacation in France, for example. But yeah, that's about the only consequence unless Israel decides to rendition him.
it has political consequences too… easier to critique someone when the ICC deems them a war criminal, even though you’d think it’d be more consequential than it is.
Nobody with a nuclear arsenal will be launching any armed resistance to a nation with a nuclear arsenal, which is why it's fucking insane we refuse to do the ONLY OTHER THING we can do - turning off military aid and sanctioning their economy.
The ICC putting out a warrant for Netanyahu does the same thing as putting out a warrant for Putin - which is to say, basically nothing. It further isolates them, which is a good start, but nobody is pretending like he's going to be lead away in chains.
It does more to pressure the US, because the US has always gained the most from global governments like the ICC and UN, and this internal conflict threatens those coalitions. The US is right to be angry about the warrant, but I think most would agree the anger should be directed at the party guilty of war crimes, not the authority prosecuting them.
How tf. is the US right to be angry about the warrant? If your son is suspected for murder and there is a warrant out, it is really not your place to be angry about the warrant.
It's a sentiment that feels right but isn't actually.
The main example being the Yugoslav wars, a lot of conspiracy theorists claim that the Serbians were the only ones who got punished for war crimes but plenty of bozniak and croat militia leaders also ended up being tried and sentenced for their roles in crimes committed during the war.
Do you have a suggested solution?
Personal nuclear armament for every citizen of earth.
I mean the problem is that on an international level might will always make right. You cannot solve that unless you force every human being on earth to submit to some single authority…
So I suppose it will be solved up all nice and tidy if an alien race comes and enslaves us. Until then, we surf the rising and falling waves of human empires just like we have been doing for 10s of 1000s of years.
Making institutions that have “authority” but no power to enforce that authority except against the defeated isn’t really doing anything except encouraging some of humanities worst instincts (revenge, feuding, and making all conflict existential)
If you want to maximize peace and safety for civil populations, you de-escalate conflict by offering face saving off ramps to the belligerents. Affording grace and forgiveness to people who are probably complete shitbags who don’t deserve it. Humanism is hella hard though, I’m not sure we’re up to the challenge.