#BTColumn – The goose and the gander

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Lenrod Nzulu Baraka

In November 2017, Fatou Bensouda, an ICC prosecutor, requested authorization to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

Prosecutor Bensouda did not specify any nation as the subject of the investigation. All parties involved in the conflict in Afghanistan would be investigated to ascertain if war crimes had been committed by any of the involved parties.

Though not mentioned specifically as the target of the proposed investigation, the US State Department immediately retaliated against the ICC.  The US announced that it would revoke or deny visas to members of the ICC involved in the proposed investigations.

The then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added that his government was prepared to impose economic sanctions on members of the ICC if any investigations of the United States and its allies were launched.

The response of the US to the proposed investigations of the ICC expressed with singular clarity the contempt held by the US and its allies for multinational and international organizations.

Not only is the US not a member of the ICC but the Hague Invasion Act authorizes the US Federal government to take appropriate measures to protect US military and other elected and appointed personnel of the US government from criminal prosecution by the ICC.

The US and its allies can therefore act with impunity launching special military operations in any country of their choice. The citizens of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan have some gruesome tales to tell about the collateral damage inflicted on civilians during the US-led military operations in these countries.

Like the deity described in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, the US and its allies can do no wrong even when the evidence overwhelmingly points to wrong doing.

The impunity with which some nations are able to act raises some haunting questions about the potency of international organisations that only seem to be able to exercise their authority over militarily and economically weak nations.

The flouting of the authority of international organizations by the US and its allies has only served to undermine confidence in these organisations.  Pope Francis is on record calling the United Nations impotent.  This admission by Pope Francis is a stark reminder that the present global order is not equitable and stands in need of major reform.

If the world wants to call the conflict in Ukraine an invasion then the world must be also willing to call US and NATO military operations in Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan invasions as well.

If the world wants to call President Putin a war criminal and a butcher then the same must also be said about US and NATO leaders who are responsible for what is euphemistically called collateral damage during invasions of sovereign nations.

The US and its allies must be held to the same moral and ethical standards applied to the rest of the international community.

India, Russia, and China are best positioned to create a breach in the current world order and apply the needed pressure to force the US and its allies to conform with agreed upon standards in the international community. The war in Ukraine is an object lesson demonstrating that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

The US may have dropped the first atomic bomb on another nation but the US is not the only country capable of unleashing the nuclear genie.

The US quest to maintain its unipolar hegemonic global control if not contained will eventually bring the world to the precipice of destruction.

The world may dodge the nuclear bullet in the Russian/ Ukraine conflict but it is highly unlikely that nuclear weapons will not be fired in a war between China and the US.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center.