-Caveat Lector-

http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/12/34257.html

USA: BULLYING, BLACKMAIL AND MADNESS

Washington abominates world public opinion

As the US Senate and House of Congress pass laws which allows the USA to
suspend cooperation with countries which do not sign treaties prohibiting
the extradition of US personnel to the International Criminal Court at The
Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity and giving the President
powers to perform a military operation to rescue any such personnel held,
the world reacts.

The international press is alive with reactions to the latest position from
Washington and succinctly, the description by Human Rights Watch
spokesperson Kenneth Roth, sums up the issue: �madness�.

Under the laws, the US administration will be entitled to suspend military
aid to foreign governments which do not enact legislation which forbids the
extradition from their soil of any US citizen who is accused of war crimes
or crimes against humanity by the International Penal Court at The Hague.
This raises the issue of why Washington is so worried that its personnel
could be liable for such claims and another, a question of blatant, pure and
abject hypocrisy: why is Slobodan Milosevic in the dock?

The suspension of cooperation would not be extended to the US allies in
NATO, nor to Israel, Japan, Egypt, Australia or North Korea but would apply
to all others. The New York Times quotes US Navy Commander Barbara Burfield
as stating that �It is easier to list countries that do not receive US
military aid than those who receive it�, these countries being all except
Cuba and the countries listed in the dossier of states which collaborate
with global terrorists.

US National Security spokesperson James Steinger, claims that these measures
simply �reflect the sharing of common interests and should not be used to
make these countries sign agreements�. An examination of the list of
�services� which would be suspended would however coerce any administration
into bowing to pressure. Apart from suspension of arms, the measures would
cover financing for military purchases, technological cooperation,
information sharing, preparation and training of troops, study programmes
and cultural exchanges, apart from the commercial fall-out imposed on US
companies by Congress.

Israel and Romania have already signed legislation prohibiting the
extradition of American citizens to the Hague, while Norway has stated that
such legislation is quite unacceptable.

The notion that the subjects of a certain country should be above the law
and be governed by a set of rules different from the rest of the world, is a
demonstration of a degree of arrogance, political short-sightedness,
ignorance, bullying, and sheer absence of vision not only risible but also
providing a frightening insight into the mindset of the Bush administration.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY
PRAVDA.Ru

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