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Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

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Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#351

Post by SllX »

freeopinion wrote: post #296
SllX wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the alternative was to leave Germany to the Soviet wolves, allow France to colonize it, or disregard the events of the Holocaust and not thoroughly document what occurred, how, and under whose orders, then it was necessary. If you don’t care about any of that, sure, you can make the argument the Nuremberg trials were unnecessary, but I’m not going to be the one to do it. Do note that the key difference between Ame…

"America" is a lot of things. Of course it is a sovereign nation. But let me here propose to you a different idea of America. I was raised inside the United States. I have a very deep love for America. But the America I love is not a place. It is a collection of principles. It is an ideal. In as much as that ideal has been realized in the place I grew up, it makes that place America to me. But America the place and p…

> I love an America that asks "What is right?" before asking "What are you going to do about it?"

Agreed, but I’ll put forth that the context for the first question also matters.

The context within this particular sub-thread which is within a larger thread regarding the ICC, the warrant issued againstNetanyahu and American sanctions on ICC staff is whether America and Americans as a non-signatory of the Rome Statute should be subject to the ICC’s jurisdiction. Actually it was originally Presidents, current and former, but there’s been some scope creep.

My answer is “No”. Your answer may be “Yes”, but I’m making the case for my “No”, not advocating for discarding all morality and total lawlessness and might-makes-right behavior, even if I think “might” is a mighty great deterrent for backing up that “No” to non-Americans that believe the answer should be “Yes” and would be willing to try out that “Yes” in the real world.

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#352

Post by M95D »

SllX wrote: post #309
slt2021 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don't elect the leaders in america. Two major party leaderships nominate their candidates, backed by hundreds of millions of corporate and special interest funding. Then some process called electoral college (that has some vague resemblance of the plebiscite) weights two candidates and picks a winner. The candidate then has to obtain approval for every cabinet position from the congress (which is also getting fun…

> you don't elect the leaders in america. We do. > Two major party leaderships nominate their candidates, backed by hundreds of millions of corporate and special interest funding. Other Americans. You’re also discounting the impact small-dollar donors have had in American politics as of late and the public primary system. > Then some process called electoral college (that has some vague resemblance of the plebiscite)…

> You’re also discounting the impact small-dollar donors have had in American politics as of late and the public primary system.

Yes, we all saw it. It's a very small impact and it attracts the opposition of every big-dollar donors. Bernie Sanders proved it.

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#353

Post by SllX »

M95D wrote: post #352
SllX wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you don't elect the leaders in america. We do. > Two major party leaderships nominate their candidates, backed by hundreds of millions of corporate and special interest funding. Other Americans. You’re also discounting the impact small-dollar donors have had in American politics as of late and the public primary system. > Then some process called electoral college (that has some vague resemblance of the plebiscite)…

> You’re also discounting the impact small-dollar donors have had in American politics as of late and the public primary system. Yes, we all saw it. It's a very small impact and it attracts the opposition of every big-dollar donors. Bernie Sanders proved it.

Small-dollar donors had an outsized impact outside of just Sanders and others on the left, and helped, just as two examples on the right: Donald J. Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The massive infusion of cash from small-dollar donors and politicians playing to their base on TV to boost their fundraising is doing far more to undermine both the Democratic and Republican parties than large donors ever have.

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#354

Post by Quarrelsome »

tguvot wrote: post #348
Quarrelsome wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and "I guess" that Donald Trump is an outlier when its comes to how US presidents treat Israel. That the Sentate passed the law is not entirely pertinent because I am talking about how US presidents treat Israel not US Presidents and the Sentate. I get your point that the senate passed the law in 1995 and its good context, however it doesn't do anything in showing how the sequence of US presidents since then have dec…

it can be as simple that there was no more "national security ground" to delay it. and btw, to address "I feel like they didn't deserve that", israel didn't really want embassy moved. because (obviously) palestinians got angry and started a wave of violence that lasted for year or so and resulted in bunch of dead and wounded.

The "I feel like they didn't deserve that" was about the YPG in Syria, not Israel.

> it can be as simple that there was no more "national security ground" to delay it.

Maybe but what had changed exactly at that point? Without a contextual argument that explains it, I can't help but feel like its a tell that Donald Trump is more friendly to Israel than previous presidents.

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#355

Post by M95D »

SllX wrote: post #313
freeopinion wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I callout the naivety of believing the the U.S. President personally decides the "American interest" of every action taken. It is a reality today that a nameless, faceless, unelected somebody on the third floor of a building in Arkansas or Arizona can decide on the spur of the moment whether a person in Yemen or Canada should die and press the button to make it happen at the hands of the U.S. government. No elected o…

If you’re talking about drone operators within the military, they are part of the President’s chain of command. Accountability resides there.

Could you give some examples of accountability?

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#356

Post by const_cast »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #270
danieljacksonno wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump has several times threatened to take Greenland, by military force if necessary. He categorically has "not ruled out" military force against a NATO ally. First source, but there are many: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/04/world/greenland-annexatio... This has, for obvious reasons, been huge news in all of Europe and especially in Denmark. I'm sure MAGA Americans want to hand-wave it away, and since Trump is so…

See my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=44340630 Trump says many things that nobody actually believes. Edit: @ujkhsjkdhf234 Answering your question from below here: >Trump says many things no one believes then he does. Stop steelmanning for Trump. That's actually a good political strategy in tough times: Keep your opponents always unsure about what you're gonna do next. Why do you think Putin invade…

> Trump says many things that nobody actually believes.

I've made this point so many times before but I'll say it again: Trump being either an idiot or a liar is not a valid defense of Trump. Nor is it a "good political strategy".

Also, it's not tough times. I know it doesn't feel that way because Trump is acting as though he requires powers only endowed in times of war, but no, it is not tough times.

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#357

Post by JumpCrisscross »

slt2021 wrote: post #299
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> aipac is boasting about funding majority of congress and is openly forcing candidates to pledge loyalty. If they dont pledge, they unleash the usual tools Sure. The NRA does the same. There are various pro-Palestinian groups who also did the same last cycle; they may have helped swing Michigan for Trump. Spending money doesn’t change minds, it helps activate latent sentiment. Particularly on low-priority issues, wh…

spending money absolutely does change minds of a politician, this is the main purpose of a lobby and this is how proposals become laws. for example the most recent bogus "IHRA definition of antisemitism" was heavily lobbied and coordinated. This is the prime example of what money can do in politics

Have you paid for a lobbyist or effected legislation?

You can raise and lower magnitudes. But you can’t change the sign of a position. Not unless it’s an issue the elected has literally never heard of before. (Or cannot remember. Lots of geriatrics.)

Also, $50mm nationally is simply not a lot. There are individual leftist donors with strong pro-Palestinian views injecting that much into the media stream.

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#358

Post by senderista »

bertil wrote: post #231
kragen wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically speaking, Westphalian sovereignty meant that there was no such thing as an "international criminal court", nor "war crimes". An ICC party such as France hypothetically arresting, for example, Netanyahu, for things that he did in Israel, would amount to a substantial erosion of Israel's sovereignty in the Westphalian sense. Under the Westphalian system, Israel's prince would have sole jurisdiction in such…

The Westphalian sovereignty that you describe would refuse the authority of the Nuremberg trials.

The Nuremberg trials were just victor's justice, as demonstrated by the total impunity for all war crimes committed by the USSR.

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#359

Post by avoutos »

ryandrake wrote: post #152
zombiwoof wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Let's not overlook that Israel has bought all previous US presidents back to its founding, and more than enough Congresscritters. We have been treating Israel as if it were the 51st state, including unconditionally funding and defending it.

The data doesn't seem to support this claim. Israel has not "bought" any Presidents. Even assuming all pro-israel spending comes from the government of Israel and not from say U.S. groups that support Israel, it is a fraction of the combined and individual spending of other interest groups.

The pro-Israel lobby has spent roughly 10-15M per year since 1990 except for the past 2-3 years when it has ramped up due to the war. This is hardly enough to offset the billions of dollars spent in U.S. politics.

For this to be true it would also require Israel to "buy" presidents who acted against Israel's interests (e.g. Obama and Biden who financially bolsered Iran). This seems unlikely.

The U.S. does not unconditionally fund and defend Israel. Most (75-90%) of U.S. Federal military aid to Israel is contingent on Israel buying from American companies. This effectively makes most funding a roundabout subsidy of American defense contractors. There are also human rights conditions and many others.

Israel and the U.S. actually have common interests in the Middle East. Contrary to some opinions, allowing Israel to cease to exist is not in the interest of the U.S. although I do support having Israel be less reliant on the U.S.

sources: https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?cycle=All&ind=Q...

https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/RL/PDF/RL3322...

Re: Microsoft suspended the email account of an ICC prosecutor at The Hague

#360

Post by gspetr »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #220
1shooner wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>some APAC conspiracy This is not a binary of either NWO conspiracy or paranoid antisemitism . AIPAC is a lobby, just like many other lobbies. They boast on their website[1] that they've paid $53M to politicians. Just like any other lobby, the electorate has a right and responsibility to judge whether the influence it has bought is in their best interests. 1. https://www.aipacpac.org/home

> AIPAC is a lobby, just like many other lobbies Sure. One among many. They’re influential, but not deterministic. > that they've paid $53M to politicians No, they don’t. They’re reporting campaign donations. There is a tendency, when we disagree with an election, to tally up the donations made to the other side while ignoring all the times the best-funded candidate got trounced. (Jeb!) The influence of money in poli…

> The influence of money in politics is one of sharply-diminishing returns. It is invaluable for name recognition

This part is true.

> There is a tendency, when we disagree with an election, to tally up the donations made to the other side while ignoring all the times the best-funded candidate got trounced. (Jeb!)

While this is too specific to a particular type of election to hold true in general (no pun intended). The POTUS election is almost by definition the most high profile election in the US, therefore the money does the least to boost your name recognition, as evidenced by $2B in "free" media publicity for the 2016 winner.

However, the WH is not the only race that matters. According to https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/money-and-elections-a-c... "For house seats, more than 90 percent of the candidates who spend the most win."

This article goes into great length to explain why correlation does not mean causation, but it also makes the case that a lot of the races that are indeed somewhat low-profile, and that's where money makes the big impact.

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