Post by OtishOtish on Sept 7, 2013 5:59:32 GMT 3
A SAYING: "BIG CON NOT FOR LITTLE GUY."
As more people buy into the story of this alleged battle and even think it a matter worth discussing---and it is not clear that it is---it might be worthwhile to consider what has happened since the start of the Kenyan cases:
* June 2011: ICC arrests warrants are issued against King of Kings, Muammar Gaddafi, the kid, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, and the kid's sidekick. Not surprisingly, howls are heard from all the usual places. (The King of Kings was quite generous with the petrodollars.) Fast forward to 2013: Jnr and his sidekick, Abdullah Al-Senussi, continue to wage an incredibly fierce fight (that has been going on for some time) in support of their demand that the Libyan government stop being vague and send them to the Hague. There are even demands (by the perps) that the ICC refer the matter to UN Security Council, for the Libyan government's mischief in some aspects of the matter!
Awkward. Silence. Sorry kid; Big Daddy and his petrodollars are no longer around. Later.
* Sep 2011: Ivory Coast. The OTP receives permission to open an investigation, after a request from the Ivory Coast and after the Ivory Coast acknowledges ICC jurisdiction. At the time the Ivory Coast was not a signatory to the Rome Statute. (It has since decided to sign up#) Obviously an awkward situation for the "ICC vs. Africa lot". Deafening silence. Doubly awkward.
#: The Ivory Coast signed up this year, amidst all the cacophony from the AU. Let's change that to Triply Awkward.
* July 2012: Mali, which is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, "refers" itself to the ICC. Another awkward situation.
* March 2013: Bosco Ntaganda turns himself into the USA Embassy---and you will recall standard cries about "the USA is not even a signatory!"---and demands to be taken to the Hague real quick. Naturally this wasn't the occasion to bring up the "Great Africa vs. Neo-colonial court" issue. Better wait for a better opportunity, e.g. the week before the Kenyan trials start ...
Now that we get back to the Kenyan cases, there is this: Apparently, Uhuru and Ruto are about to be finished by those bad neo-colonial types, who are no doubt after Kenya's newly found riches (oil, rare earths, etc.). They need solidarity and support, and they are getting plenty of those---AU, MPigs and their dogs planning to earn their sitting allowances by remote (from the Hague), motions to bring a bill to ..., Every day in the Kenyan media, it's "Uhuru, Ruto, and the ICC".
But how about that Little Guy? That radio announcer. Anybody remember him in this Great Battle-and-Hurricane of Support & Solidarity? Just curious .... But it reminds me of this: the ICC has several Africans locked up, several on the "wanted dead-or-alive" list, and so on. Anybody ever hear of them being mentioned in this great "ICC vs Africa" battle? And some of them have been in that "status" for quite some time. On behalf of some obscure, yet-to-be-"discovered" group of people, I now invent this soon-to-be Ancient tribal saying: "Ancestors say big con not for wasting on little guy".
Last night, a Kenyan friend again mentioned the tired line of African countries withdrawing en masse from the ICC. Here is what I told him: How much do you think your average African leader weighs? Let's say something like 180 pounds (between Kagame and one of those Southern African kings who are really enjoying the fat of the land). Now, far do you think you could throw him? That's about the extent to which you should believe an African "leader" who says his country will withdraw from the ICC in support of a couple of guys who are deep in it and who, in the best of circumstances, will not last beyond 10 years. So, the world having heard this, endlessly, since Bashir, the bluff will be called. Feel free to wake me up on the first withdrawal---and that includes Kenya.
Since the Kenyan cases started, four African countries have signed up to the Rome Statute. None has left. Kusema na kutenda?
Anyway, for a purely "intellectual exercise", let us suppose that we are on Jupiter and not on Planet Earth. And let us also suppose that on Jupiter all the African countries do some kusema na kutenda and pull out en masse. How would it affect the ICC? In terms of membership, they would still have about 90 countries left---a good working number? How about a shortage of monsters to deal with? Well, so many African countries have been sending their people there that the ICC budget is currently severely strained. There are enough monsters in the pipeline to keep the court going for some time. Perhaps in that hiatus, African "leaders" would have stopped finishing their own people. Perhaps the trials of PEV perpetrators that GoK, in its admissibility challenge, promised the court would get started in Sep 2011 might eventually get started. That's the neat thing about being on another planet or in a parallel universe: everything is possible.
Scooting back to Planet Earth: The Big Countdown---90 years, 90 months, 90 days, ... and, before you know it, it's 10 Sep 2013. Amazing. Usually time seems to crawl if it's a bad movie.
As more people buy into the story of this alleged battle and even think it a matter worth discussing---and it is not clear that it is---it might be worthwhile to consider what has happened since the start of the Kenyan cases:
* June 2011: ICC arrests warrants are issued against King of Kings, Muammar Gaddafi, the kid, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, and the kid's sidekick. Not surprisingly, howls are heard from all the usual places. (The King of Kings was quite generous with the petrodollars.) Fast forward to 2013: Jnr and his sidekick, Abdullah Al-Senussi, continue to wage an incredibly fierce fight (that has been going on for some time) in support of their demand that the Libyan government stop being vague and send them to the Hague. There are even demands (by the perps) that the ICC refer the matter to UN Security Council, for the Libyan government's mischief in some aspects of the matter!
Awkward. Silence. Sorry kid; Big Daddy and his petrodollars are no longer around. Later.
* Sep 2011: Ivory Coast. The OTP receives permission to open an investigation, after a request from the Ivory Coast and after the Ivory Coast acknowledges ICC jurisdiction. At the time the Ivory Coast was not a signatory to the Rome Statute. (It has since decided to sign up#) Obviously an awkward situation for the "ICC vs. Africa lot". Deafening silence. Doubly awkward.
#: The Ivory Coast signed up this year, amidst all the cacophony from the AU. Let's change that to Triply Awkward.
* July 2012: Mali, which is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, "refers" itself to the ICC. Another awkward situation.
* March 2013: Bosco Ntaganda turns himself into the USA Embassy---and you will recall standard cries about "the USA is not even a signatory!"---and demands to be taken to the Hague real quick. Naturally this wasn't the occasion to bring up the "Great Africa vs. Neo-colonial court" issue. Better wait for a better opportunity, e.g. the week before the Kenyan trials start ...
Now that we get back to the Kenyan cases, there is this: Apparently, Uhuru and Ruto are about to be finished by those bad neo-colonial types, who are no doubt after Kenya's newly found riches (oil, rare earths, etc.). They need solidarity and support, and they are getting plenty of those---AU, MPigs and their dogs planning to earn their sitting allowances by remote (from the Hague), motions to bring a bill to ..., Every day in the Kenyan media, it's "Uhuru, Ruto, and the ICC".
But how about that Little Guy? That radio announcer. Anybody remember him in this Great Battle-and-Hurricane of Support & Solidarity? Just curious .... But it reminds me of this: the ICC has several Africans locked up, several on the "wanted dead-or-alive" list, and so on. Anybody ever hear of them being mentioned in this great "ICC vs Africa" battle? And some of them have been in that "status" for quite some time. On behalf of some obscure, yet-to-be-"discovered" group of people, I now invent this soon-to-be Ancient tribal saying: "Ancestors say big con not for wasting on little guy".
Last night, a Kenyan friend again mentioned the tired line of African countries withdrawing en masse from the ICC. Here is what I told him: How much do you think your average African leader weighs? Let's say something like 180 pounds (between Kagame and one of those Southern African kings who are really enjoying the fat of the land). Now, far do you think you could throw him? That's about the extent to which you should believe an African "leader" who says his country will withdraw from the ICC in support of a couple of guys who are deep in it and who, in the best of circumstances, will not last beyond 10 years. So, the world having heard this, endlessly, since Bashir, the bluff will be called. Feel free to wake me up on the first withdrawal---and that includes Kenya.
Since the Kenyan cases started, four African countries have signed up to the Rome Statute. None has left. Kusema na kutenda?
Anyway, for a purely "intellectual exercise", let us suppose that we are on Jupiter and not on Planet Earth. And let us also suppose that on Jupiter all the African countries do some kusema na kutenda and pull out en masse. How would it affect the ICC? In terms of membership, they would still have about 90 countries left---a good working number? How about a shortage of monsters to deal with? Well, so many African countries have been sending their people there that the ICC budget is currently severely strained. There are enough monsters in the pipeline to keep the court going for some time. Perhaps in that hiatus, African "leaders" would have stopped finishing their own people. Perhaps the trials of PEV perpetrators that GoK, in its admissibility challenge, promised the court would get started in Sep 2011 might eventually get started. That's the neat thing about being on another planet or in a parallel universe: everything is possible.
Scooting back to Planet Earth: The Big Countdown---90 years, 90 months, 90 days, ... and, before you know it, it's 10 Sep 2013. Amazing. Usually time seems to crawl if it's a bad movie.
