Common Dreams - Jessica Corbett, April 06 2019
​Photo - ICC

In a move human rights defenders decried as "shameful," the Trump administration revoked the visa of the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor this week for trying to investigate alleged war crimes committed by American forces in Afghanistan.

"What we can confirm is that the U.S. authorities have revoked the prosecutor's visa for entry into the U.S." Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's office said in a statement. The decision, per her office, shouldn't interfere with her travel to the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

"Washington's attempt to intimidate the ICC by canceling the ICC prosecutor's visa over a possible Afghanistan investigation is the Trump administration's latest shameful attack on the rule of law," said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

Katherine Gallagher, an international human rights attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, condemned the move as "interference with judicial proceedings" that violates international law.

While the decision was widely criticized in the international community, it was not a surprise.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last month that the administration would revoke or deny visas for any court personnel who try to probe or prosecute American officials or key allies—which critics called a "blatant effort to intimidate and retaliate against judges, prosecutors, and advocates seeking justice for victims of serious human rights abuses."

Pompeo's announcement came after John Bolton, President Donald Trump's national security adviser and a longtime critic of the ICC, threatened to impose sanctions on court officials in September if they continued to pursue an investigation into U.S. service members' conduct in Afghanistan.

Under the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, the United States has refused to join or support the Hague-based court, which probes and prosecutes crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide under international law.

In November of 2017, Bensouda requested a probe of potential war crimes committed by U.S. military forces and members of the CIA in Afghanistan. The ICC has not yet made a final decision about whether to open a formal investigation.

Though critics oppose the Trump administration's visa ban on ICC personnel who are pushing for the investigation as an intimidation tactic, it does not appear to be having that impact on Bensouda, a Gambian lawyer.
"The Office of the Prosecutor has an independent and impartial mandate under the Rome statute of the ICC," the statement from her office said.
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"The prosecutor and her office will continue to undertake that statutory duty with utmost commitment and professionalism," it concluded, "without fear or favor."

Matthew R. Bishop, World Report News
Washington, D.C. – February 27th, 2019

Mr. Michael Cohen, who has previously appeared before Congress to deliver federal criminal testimony, today appeared again to elaborate on previous allegations and to reveal new hard evidence in support of the outstanding criminal allegations against the President of the United States.

Mr. Cohen testified before the assembly and provided the United States Congress with evidence and testimony to confirm or assert the following criminal allegations against President Trump:

+ Threating and intimidation of federal witnesses called upon by Congress
+ Using non-profit funds to purchase private assets and private artwork
+ Using federal campaign finance money to issue blackmail payments covering up Mr. Trump’s private extra-marital affair
+ Federal tax fraud and personal income tax fraud and tax evasion in the amount of several million dollars
+ Bank fraud in the amount of tens of millions of dollars
+ Using the Office of the President of the United States to threaten civilian institutions including schools, colleges, private media, and non-profit groups
+ Threatening legal action and physical violence against groups and individuals in order to prevent the release of personal records including school grades, college transcripts, tax returns, financial statements, and Vietnam War records
+ Censoring and redacting evidence from the United States Congress which implicated the President of the United States, including the testimony given by Michael Cohen on previous occasions
+ Interference with Congressional hearings regarding his own alleged criminal violations
+ Managing and pursuing private business interests with foreign adversaries worth hundreds of millions of dollars
+ Speaking and cooperating with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in order to hack into, weaponize, and release the records and e-mails of Democratic Party members, allegedly in collusion with Russian agents.

In addition to the documentation, presentation, and testimony given to corroborate the above allegations, Mr. Cohen did confirm that President Trump “did not actually expect to win” the 2016 election, and therefore was continuing with “business as usual”, which may have included working with Russian foreign agents, intelligence officers, and party members.

Asked whether or not Mr. Trump would have even been willing to work with agents of a foreign adversary in order to win the 2016 election, Mr. Cohen responded “yes” and that Donald Trump “would do anything to win.” Mr. Cohen elaborated furthermore that he never was under the impression Donald Trump “cared at all for this country”, that he frequently criticized the government, and that he called the IRS “stupid” for giving “someone like a him [Donald Trump]” a federal tax refund. He bragged about dodging his taxes and instructed Mr. Cohen to do likewise.

The language now disclosed in the evidence supplied by Mr. Cohen paints a portrait of a man willing to use violence to coerce his enemies and to silence those who might speak out against him. Threats were made not only against the personal safety of President Trump’s enemies, associates, and former business partners, but also against the safety of their families and loved ones. President Trump also directed threats against his former school and college, telling them not to release his grades and threatening violence if they did so.

Further evidence and testimony revealed how Mr. Trump regularly refused to pay his vendors, taking advantage of small, vulnerable businesses by sub-contracting or hiring them outright and then not paying their wages, expenses, or invoices after the work had already been completed. Mr. Trump directed Mr. Cohen to call these vendors on a regular basis to explain they would not be getting paid.

Established charges have previously focused on key individuals surrounding President Trump, including close family members and the C-level management of Trump Organization, which Mr. Cohen again confirmed in this hearing. But this hearing also nailed down precise criminal and federal allegations against the President himself, including federal tax fraud, personal finance fraud, non-profit fraud, campaign finance fraud, tax evasion, bank fraud, threatening and intimidating court witnesses, threatening and intimidating Congressional witnesses, threatening and intimidating civilian institutions to withhold documents and evidence, covering up criminal charges, and censoring criminal evidence from the United States Congress.

Collusion with a foreign adversary (treason) was not brought as a charge today before Congress, and Michael Cohen insisted that he did not have requisite evidence to assert such allegations at this time. He suggested Robert Mueller or the House Intelligence Committee might have that evidence.

The majority of these criminal activities occurred during the 2016 Presidential election cycle, and not during the Presidency itself.

Although the matter of Russian involvement in U.S. elections and ongoing governance at the executive level is currently classified and is the subject of a House Intelligence Committee investigation, Mr. Cohen did allude to the President’s colluding with foreign adversaries in order to release classified American materials and to pursue private business gains at the expense of American national security.

The Mueller Report is expected to arrive soon at the Office of the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General then decides which information contained in the report, if any, may be reviewed by Congress. Congress, in turn, decides whether or not that limited information will be made available to the American public. The Attorney-General is not required to release Mueller’s full report to Congress, and neither is Congress required to release that report to the American public.

Whether or not the country moves forward with an impeachment process may therefore depend on how much information is made available regarding the President’s criminal activities not only to the American people, but also to the United States Congress itself, which might be kept in the dark.

Impeachment, moreover, is a political process more than it is a legal process. Impeachment is not an automatic, structural reaction to a violation of federal laws while in office. It is not as simple as breaking the law, where someone may file a charge, take you to court, and send you to prison. Impeachment is more like a piece of actual legislation, which members of Congress must negotiate and agree on before moving forward.

​Therefore, even in the face of such grave and serious allegations, it may remain the case that no impeachment process moves forward at all, especially if key information from the Mueller Report is withheld from Congress or the American people.

U.S. NGO Calls for Sanctions Against Israel
20 June 2018 – Matthew R. Bishop, World Report News

Human Rights Watch, one of the leading American NGO-NPOs in the foreign policy space, boldly called for the United States to begin targeted sanctions against Israel and Israeli leaders this past week.

The Israeli foreign lobby invests more money influencing the United States Congress than any other country. Israel and the United States, as a result, have historically been inseparable as allies. But, increasingly, American public opinion has shifted against Israeli apartheid policies in Palestine.
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The call for sanctions against Israel comes nine weeks into the Great March of Return, a massive Palestinian protest movement intended to memorialize the lives lost and the lands stolen by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

19 June 2018 – Matthew R. Bishop, World Report News
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On May 22nd, 2018, a company of non-uniformed policemen opened fire with assault rifles on a crowd of unarmed civilian protestors in the Indian city of Thoothukudi. Thirteen protestors were killed and many more were wounded.
The police, according to witness statements, aimed to kill, placing their shots on the torso or the head rather than the legs, arms, or feet.

The order to shoot was given by a junior officer who only had the authority to issue that order during the time his senior officer was absent. Normally this individual would not have had the authority to issue this command.

The dispute was over a copper smelter in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

For four months the townsfolk of Thoothukudi had been protesting against a copper smelter owned and operated by Sterlite Copper, a subsidiary company of Indian mining firm Vedanta, which itself is a subsidiary of the U.K.-based Vedanta Resources. Citizens and protestors insisted that the smelter was causing rapid, dramatic, and irreversible environmental damages, and that its operation had an adverse effect on their health. Government officials in the state of Tamil Nadu agreed. They formally requested that the copper smelter be closed.

Instead, company representatives dismissed government requests, ignored protestor demands, and called upon the police to put down any dissent or insurrection against the mining and processing operation in Thoothukudi.
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The protests continued for months without progress or results, but also without violence or casualties—until the end of May when non-uniformed police opened fire.

The massacre has prompted international outrage. The United Nations demanded that India’s federal government investigate the crime and hold the perpetrators accountable. Powerful politicians in the U.K. have vowed to delist Vedanta Resources from the London Stock Exchange. And Sterlite Copper was forced to close its Thoothukudi operations under a federal order.

But Vedanta Resources confirmed it has no plans to close the smelter permanently. In the days after the massacre, the company reaffirmed its no-negotiations policy. Tamil Nadu shut down the site following the deaths of thirteen protestors on May 28th, but Vedanta Resources plans to re-open the smelter and continue operations as soon as the order expires, against government requests, civilian protests, and international condemnation.

One day after the shooting, the Madras High Court ruled that Sterlite-Vedanta had acted against the EPA Act of 1986, and ordered the closure of a new expansion site which had been under construction at the time. They also stated that they would be willing to allow the re-opening of the original facility, or of a newer facility, if the company was able to send in a formal proposal which passes the 1986 EPA standards.

Police statements one week after the event alleged that protestors had been carrying deadly weapons, had threatened the lives of company and police officials, and had posed a threat to public safety. Eyewitness testimonies refuted these allegations. Protestors insisted that not a single one among them had a weapon, that no such threats were made, and that the police opened fire on the crowd without any legal justifications for doing so. CCTV security camera footage supports the protestors’ narrative of events and finds no evidence of any of the allegations made by the police.

At the time of writing, organizers have been trying to put together subsequent protest demonstrations. Witnesses say that police have been going door-to-door and arresting organizers so that no future demonstrations can take place.
 

 
Sources and Further Reading
 
http://venturesafrica.com/ethiopian-government-set-to-finally-lift-state-of-emergency/
http://www.dw.com/en/global-conflict-continues-to-rise-index-shows/a-44090159
https://www.inc.com/brian-de-haaff/3-ways-remote-workers-outperform-office-workers.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/its-up-united-states-make-first-move-bruno-le-maire?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3BCWlNG2c1TxWankaXjAoexw%3D%3D
https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/06/microsoft-launches-underwater-datacenter-off-scottish-coast/
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=172472573437344&id=135343587150243
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10205355466283346&id=1749324263
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10205355466283346&id=1749324263
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/thoothukudi-firing-inspector-claims-he-gave-shooting-orders-control-crowd-82598
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/land-allotted-sterlite-expansion-cancelled-tn-government-82081
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/thoothukudi-violence-un-experts-condemn-police-excess-took-13-lives-full-text-82254
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoothukudi_massacre
http://www.vedantaresources.com/
https://www.facebook.com/100011722696886/posts/561677080899710/
https://www.marxist.com/india-police-massacre-peaceful-protestors-in-tamil-nadu.htm

Compiled with Eyewitness Statements