The ICC and Empire

The International Court of Justice in the Hague has indicted the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, of war crimes. To be specific, the stealing of Ukraine’s children. There are a few things to be said about this. The first is that, like the United States, Russia is not a signatory of the Rome Protocol. Therefore, the ICC has no jurisdiction. So this is far more symbolic.

However, 123 countries are signatories of the Rome Protocol, and in theory, are obligated to arrest him if he sets foot in their countries. It is not just the global north, incidentally. But it includes a fair number of countries in the global south, including most of South America and a few in Africa. So in theory, this could pose a problem for Putin if he decided to travel abroad. It is not just him. Maria Lvova-Belova, Children’s Rights Commissioner, was also charged.

Empire

It’s a good idea to look at this from the point of empire and colonial histories. First, because I know the what about crowd will raise it, the US still has to face up to its two founding sins: Slavery and genocide. Moreover, the American empire of the interwar period had some things in common with the Russian empire or most empires that have existed until now.

1945 was a real break for us, and the winding down of a few European empires, including the French and British empires. We saw a…