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ICC judge on what U.S. sanctions mean for her and global courts

229 points · 173 comments · rbanffy

  1. msdz · · focus · HN ↗
    Regardless of what one personally thinks about the ICC, this isn’t a good look for neither the US nor Europe.

    For the U.S., because sanctioning an “unpleasant”, but in essence harmless individual (geopolitically speaking) is ridiculous. Falling victim to de-banking alone can really ruin one’s life.

    And for the EU, because it once again showcases the dependence on U.S. systems for just about anything tech-related in everyday life and work.

    1. wereHamster · · focus · HN ↗
      EU is not necessarily dependent on the US in all the cases that are listed in the article. Take AXA, the insurance company. They could probably survive doing business just in the EU and withdraw entirely out of the US market. But for them it's more lucrative to piss off one judge rather than lose the US share of profits. As the article describes, it's a business decision. But not one that necessarily means life or death (for the company).
      1. QDwQ1 · · focus · HN ↗
        EU politicians should grow some balls and force their companies to ignore US sanctions in cases like these
        1. msdz · · focus · HN ↗
          I’ve read that at least in the case of some EU banks, not following the foreign sanctions is quite literally not an option for them.

          If you don’t follow sanctions, other banks either with branches doing business in the U.S., or their partner banks, will refuse to continue banking with you out of fear for not following sanctions – which include banks enabling sanction-circumvention. Essentially, even if the bank doesn’t want to deal with USD (which most banks would still like to do!), you’re still bound by the sanctions. A bank won’t survive long or well if it’s cut off from a majority of other banks.

          1. jorvi · · focus · HN ↗
            This is why WERO and the digital Euro are so crucial. Once the EU has a separate financial backbone, they can tell the US to go pound sand.
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