March 20, 2023, written by the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) in France. Translated from French.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for the deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. These accusations are undoubtedly well-founded, and sordid misdeeds should of course be denounced. But the ICC, which has been in existence since 2002, has not once reacted while successive U.S. presidents waged a 20-year war in Afghanistan with its share of massacres and crimes, nor while King Salman of Saudi Arabia has bombed civilian populations in Yemen, nor while Turkish President Erdoğan has blithely massacred the Kurds for decades.
Depending on whether you are friends or enemies of Western imperialism, the ICC will paint you as an angel or a devil…