Photo by Artem Shuba on Unsplash.

In among the general chaos of 2026, it would have been easy to miss a seemingly minor news story this week- the United States has placed sanctions on 2 more officials at the International Criminal Court.

Despite how trivial it seems compared to rampaging wildfires and missile strikes, this is anything but a minor story.

By imposing these sanctions, the US is preventing these officials (including the court's President) from accessing the US-dominated banking system, making travel considerably more difficult for them, and locking them out US-owned software (including programs from Google and Microsoft).

American companies have many of us by the balls, and this is yet another wake up call that we need to do things differently.

Why this should make you angry

The International Criminal Court was set up to prevent a a rerun of the 20th Century's horrors, by holding people accountable for their actions, regardless of who they are and how powerful they might feel.

The court deals with accusations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and similar. Former presidents and military commanders have passed through this system since the court was founded in 2002, and these once powerful individuals have been made to answer for their actions and decisions.

Since the court indicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his actions in Gaza, however, the United States has been actively trying to dismantle the court, passing multiple rounds of sanctions against the people working there.

An indictment isn't a guilty verdict, but in this case the Trump administration is doing everything it can to make sure that the case will never be heard.

Photo by Rafael Nir on Unsplash.

The hypocrisy of the American position

Addressing this week's sanctions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the court for attempting to "prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction" (source: BBC News).

You might recall that this statement is coming from the same administration that asserts a New York court's jurisdiction expands all the way to the Presidential Palace in Venezuela. It's also the same government that claims the right to kill people in small boats hundreds of kilometres from US territorial waters, but seemingly some jurisdictions are more flexible than others.

Here's where you come in

After both rounds of sanctions imposed on the court, European governments have made statements of condemnation, but in practice they've done nothing.

But we don't have to wait for governments to grow backbones, and we aren't powerless in this international stand off. According to Council of the European Union figures, the EU imported €356.2 billion worth of US goods in 2025, and consumers like us are buying a big portion of those goods.

If you believe that everybody should be held to the same standards under law, no matter who they are or what office they hold, then now is the time to show it.

Cancel your Netflix subscription, delete Instagram, don't eat that McDonald's, forget about buying a Ford, swap your Coca Cola for a European brand, and make your spending count.

There's good reason to believe that this US Administration cares about nothing but money and power, so it's time to take yours back.

Photo by James Yarema on Unsplash.

To wrap up

If you aren't robbing a convenience store or planning to do so, you don't fight tooth and nail to avoid there being a court that indicts people suspected of robbing convenience stores. This isn't about whether or not Benjamin Netanyahu did anything wrong, it's about whether or not we want to live in a world where those in positions of power can act with impunity.

I'll end with an apology that this article is much less light-hearted than most of my posts, but that kind of world isn't something to joke about.