The US has announced that it will revoke and not issue any new visas to any agent of the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating war crimes committed by US and allied forces in Afghanistan. The US is not a signatory to the ICC charter, but the Court has the right to investigate war crimes committed by any state. The Court was asked by prosecutors to investigate charges “into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Afghan national security forces, Taliban and Haqqani network fighters, as well as US forces and intelligence officials in Afghanistan since May 2003.” The ICC cannot undertake such investigations unless it can be proven that national authorities did not first investigate incidents according to domestic law. The US has consistently argued that its own national laws are being applied whenever war crimes are suspected. There are some in the international human rights community who believe that the US should allow its behavior to be examined by international tribunals.
Demonstrations have broken out across the Balkans. Anti-government protesters occupied the offices of the state television, demanding that opposition politicians be allowed to broadcast their platforms in upcoming elections. In Montenegro protesters are dmanding the resignation of the President, Milo Đukanović, because of allegations of corruption. And in Albania, there have been demonstrations demanding the ouster of the
Prime Minister, Edi Rama, also because of corruption charges. These protests have been building for several months, and they seem to be organized by civil, not political, groups. These are good signs for democratic values. We shall see how the governments respond.
The Balkans
World Politics News 
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