IMRAAN BUCCUS: Putin, Bush, Blair, Netanyahu should have their day in a new world court
The ICC has become a failed project as far as international justice is concerned
30 March 2023 - 05:00
byImraan Buccus
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Now that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin there is going to be a frenzy of condemnation of the SA government as we get closer to the Brics meeting to be held here in August.
If Putin decides to attend those in our commentariat, media and academy that see themselves as part of the West and are largely uncritical of the West, will be apoplectic. This is the same grouping enraged by white suffering resulting from the war in Ukraine yet is silent on black suffering as a result of wars in Ethiopia and Yemen.
They are enraged by the SA state undertaking military exercises with Russia and China, but silent — even excited — when our state does the same with the US military. They see China as a threat to world security and the US as a guarantor of that security, when the US has invaded and bombed many more countries than any other state.
They obsess about Russian “disinformation”, but never use this term to describe American propaganda, such as the lies about “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, the carefully cultivated paranoia around Chinese spy balloons, or the obvious spin around the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline.
Some analysts, looking at both these extraordinary double standards and the history of colonialism and neocolonialism, argue that we should be siding with Russia and China against the West. This is not my view. I believe SA should remain nonaligned and, like former president Thabo Mbeki, seek to build an independent African presence in world affairs.
When it comes to understanding global issues we should assess each state and its actions on the basis of a rigorous examination of the evidence, rather than following the West or any other global power like sheep. If we were to take an independent and fact-based look at the ICC and its arrest warrant for Putin, a few things would immediately become obvious.
One is that the state responsible for the most war crimes since the end of World War 2, the US, does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC. As a result, US war criminals such as George Bush cannot be brought before the court. This is a huge problem for the legitimacy of the court. Israel, a US client state, has also refused to recognise the authority of the court. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would clearly have a case to answer if the court was universally recognised and treated all states equally.
India, China and Indonesia also do not recognise the court. These are all powerful states and an international court that is not recognised by the two most powerful states in the world, China and the US, along with a number of other powerful states, clearly has limited power and legitimacy.
Then there is the matter of the court’s obvious biases. A long list of African presidents, all odious figures to be sure, have been brought before the court. Yet Tony Blair, undeniably a war criminal, has not been brought before the court even though the UK does recognise its authority. For formerly colonised countries the court looks like a neocolonial institution, arguably a racist institution. There is no good reason for an African country to support an international institution that is vigorous about prosecuting African leaders but cannot do the same for Bush and will not do the same for Blair.
There is another problem that will arise if Putin comes to SA for the Brics meetings. For one state to arrest the head of another state would be taken as an act of war. SA, already steeped in a worsening economic and political crisis and unable even to fix the potholes in its roads, could hardly manage an intense conflict with Russia. It’s simply not viable for our state to make a move against Russian sovereignty.
Moreover, while the pro-Western bloc constantly speak as if SA’s nonaligned position on the Russia-Ukraine war amounts to support for Russia, the fact is the bulk of the Global South has taken the same position. That position is not, as is constantly stated or implied, support for Russia. It is non-alignment. Our state has cordial relations with the US, Russia and China, and engages in military exercises with all three. If SA were to break ranks and fully align itself with the West it would lose face and support across most of the Global South. It would then have to become a client state of the West, much like Rwanda.
Of course, the pro-Western bloc in our public discourse would like SA to be a Rwandan-style client state of the West, but this would mean an abandonment of the pan-African and Global South commitments that have always animated liberation politics here. And it is not just the ANC and the other smaller nationalist parties that would oppose our becoming a US client state. Non-state actors such as the trade unions and the bulk of the black intelligentsia would take the same view.
The ICC is a failed project because it has not been able to bring a critical mass of powerful states under its ambit, because it is not willing to move against Western or pro-Western leaders, and because it has tended to focus on crimes committed by leaders of weak states, with a particular bias towards African politicians.
Putin does not have nearly as much blood on his hands as Bush and Blair, but he does have blood on his hands, and he must account for his actions in Ukraine, as well as in Chechnya. However this cannot credibly be undertaken by the ICC. What SA should do is lobby in the AU for all African countries to withdraw their sanction from the ICC and then work with democratic governments in Africa and across the Global South to push for a genuinely multilateral and fair system of international justice managed by the UN.
A system must be built that can see Putin, Bush, Blair, Netanyahu and those responsible for the ongoing slaughter in Ethiopia and Yemen have their day in a credible world court. This would be a historic, game-changing breakthrough for humanity.
• Dr Buccus is a political analyst and senior research associate at the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
IMRAAN BUCCUS: Putin, Bush, Blair, Netanyahu should have their day in a new world court
The ICC has become a failed project as far as international justice is concerned
Now that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin there is going to be a frenzy of condemnation of the SA government as we get closer to the Brics meeting to be held here in August.
If Putin decides to attend those in our commentariat, media and academy that see themselves as part of the West and are largely uncritical of the West, will be apoplectic. This is the same grouping enraged by white suffering resulting from the war in Ukraine yet is silent on black suffering as a result of wars in Ethiopia and Yemen.
They are enraged by the SA state undertaking military exercises with Russia and China, but silent — even excited — when our state does the same with the US military. They see China as a threat to world security and the US as a guarantor of that security, when the US has invaded and bombed many more countries than any other state.
They obsess about Russian “disinformation”, but never use this term to describe American propaganda, such as the lies about “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, the carefully cultivated paranoia around Chinese spy balloons, or the obvious spin around the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline.
Some analysts, looking at both these extraordinary double standards and the history of colonialism and neocolonialism, argue that we should be siding with Russia and China against the West. This is not my view. I believe SA should remain nonaligned and, like former president Thabo Mbeki, seek to build an independent African presence in world affairs.
When it comes to understanding global issues we should assess each state and its actions on the basis of a rigorous examination of the evidence, rather than following the West or any other global power like sheep. If we were to take an independent and fact-based look at the ICC and its arrest warrant for Putin, a few things would immediately become obvious.
One is that the state responsible for the most war crimes since the end of World War 2, the US, does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC. As a result, US war criminals such as George Bush cannot be brought before the court. This is a huge problem for the legitimacy of the court. Israel, a US client state, has also refused to recognise the authority of the court. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would clearly have a case to answer if the court was universally recognised and treated all states equally.
India, China and Indonesia also do not recognise the court. These are all powerful states and an international court that is not recognised by the two most powerful states in the world, China and the US, along with a number of other powerful states, clearly has limited power and legitimacy.
Then there is the matter of the court’s obvious biases. A long list of African presidents, all odious figures to be sure, have been brought before the court. Yet Tony Blair, undeniably a war criminal, has not been brought before the court even though the UK does recognise its authority. For formerly colonised countries the court looks like a neocolonial institution, arguably a racist institution. There is no good reason for an African country to support an international institution that is vigorous about prosecuting African leaders but cannot do the same for Bush and will not do the same for Blair.
There is another problem that will arise if Putin comes to SA for the Brics meetings. For one state to arrest the head of another state would be taken as an act of war. SA, already steeped in a worsening economic and political crisis and unable even to fix the potholes in its roads, could hardly manage an intense conflict with Russia. It’s simply not viable for our state to make a move against Russian sovereignty.
Moreover, while the pro-Western bloc constantly speak as if SA’s nonaligned position on the Russia-Ukraine war amounts to support for Russia, the fact is the bulk of the Global South has taken the same position. That position is not, as is constantly stated or implied, support for Russia. It is non-alignment. Our state has cordial relations with the US, Russia and China, and engages in military exercises with all three. If SA were to break ranks and fully align itself with the West it would lose face and support across most of the Global South. It would then have to become a client state of the West, much like Rwanda.
Of course, the pro-Western bloc in our public discourse would like SA to be a Rwandan-style client state of the West, but this would mean an abandonment of the pan-African and Global South commitments that have always animated liberation politics here. And it is not just the ANC and the other smaller nationalist parties that would oppose our becoming a US client state. Non-state actors such as the trade unions and the bulk of the black intelligentsia would take the same view.
The ICC is a failed project because it has not been able to bring a critical mass of powerful states under its ambit, because it is not willing to move against Western or pro-Western leaders, and because it has tended to focus on crimes committed by leaders of weak states, with a particular bias towards African politicians.
Putin does not have nearly as much blood on his hands as Bush and Blair, but he does have blood on his hands, and he must account for his actions in Ukraine, as well as in Chechnya. However this cannot credibly be undertaken by the ICC. What SA should do is lobby in the AU for all African countries to withdraw their sanction from the ICC and then work with democratic governments in Africa and across the Global South to push for a genuinely multilateral and fair system of international justice managed by the UN.
A system must be built that can see Putin, Bush, Blair, Netanyahu and those responsible for the ongoing slaughter in Ethiopia and Yemen have their day in a credible world court. This would be a historic, game-changing breakthrough for humanity.
• Dr Buccus is a political analyst and senior research associate at the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute.
TOM EATON: Like Thabo Bester, Putin will walk free as a ghost voter should he be arrested
CARTOON: Vladimir Putin — war criminal and Brics kingpin
SAM MKOKELI: A Putin visit would put Cyril on the spot
EDITORIAL: SA quite happy to cosy up to the Kremlin autocrat
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
WATCH: Will SA’s courts issue Putin arrest warrant?
Putin ally warns US about nuclear capabilities
TOM EATON: Like Thabo Bester, Putin will walk free as a ghost voter should he ...
Russia to uphold nuclear limits despite US decision to stop data sharing
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.