{"id":228066,"date":"2022-07-09T12:59:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T07:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=228066"},"modified":"2022-07-13T05:02:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T23:32:13","slug":"war-on-china-v-a-carnival-of-quads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/war-on-china-v-a-carnival-of-quads\/","title":{"rendered":"War On China? \u2013 V: A \u201cCarnival\u201d Of Quads"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sachithanandam Sathananthan<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Sachithanandam Sathananthan<\/p><\/div>\n

US Absolutism<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The US administration sought an exemption for its armed forces personnel engaged in foreign military operations and compelled the UN Security Council to grant \u201cimmunity from prosecution\u00a0by the ICC (International Criminal Court) to United Nations\u00a0peacekeeping personnel from countries that were not party to the ICC\u201d, through the June 2002 UNSC Resolution 1422<\/a><\/span>, valid for 12 months. \u201cThe resolution was passed at the insistence of the United States, which threatened to\u00a0veto\u00a0the renewal of all\u00a0United Nations peacekeeping missions\u2026unless its citizens were shielded from prosecution by the ICC.\u201d The UNSC extended it for one year in 2003 but refused a further extension in 2004 citing abuse of inmates in the Abu Ghraib prison (Iraq); the US dropped its demand.<\/p>\n

Readers may recollect Washington flouted<\/a><\/span> the 1986 ICJ (International Court of Justice) Ruling, that the US exercised \u201cunlawful use of force\u201d in its naval blockade of Nicaragua and support for Contras, alleging the ICJ had no jurisdiction though the \u201cCourt concluded that the United States, despite its objections, was subject to the Court’s jurisdiction\u201d. Washington refused to participate in the proceedings and moved its Veto in the UNSC to block Nicaragua enforcing the Ruling. In the following year the US withdrew its consent to ICJ\u2019s compulsory jurisdiction and also escalated the aggression. It\u2019s well known the US administration violates almost every canon of international law in the Guantanamo Bay and by the so-called Extraordinary Rendition<\/a><\/span> (kidnap and torture) in similar black sites in allied countries. This illegality and more was justified by the so-called \u201cWar on Terror\u201d, undeclared against an amorphous enemy the US intelligence agencies had nurtured<\/a><\/span> in Afghanistan between the 1970s and 1990s.<\/p>\n

The Congress, ever faithful to its hallowed principle of \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong + what\u2019s legal = what\u2019s right\u201d, routinely passed the 2002 American Servicemembers’ Protection Act (ASPA), which President Bush Jnr. signed into law. Human Rights Watch noted the ASPA\u2019s major anti-ICC provisions<\/a><\/span>:<\/p>\n