EP.859: Tariq Ali on Coronavirus: US Sanctions Against Iran, Venezuela are Disgusting!

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to writer and activist Tariq Ali. He discusses the Coronavirus pandemic crisis, how neoliberalism has failed as a system, US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran during the pandemic, how neoliberal culture affects the societal response to coronavirus, the 17th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War and why it is still relevant today, how the Iraq War limited Iraq’s ability to combat COVID-19, the alleged torture of Julian Assange and his extradition trial, Narendra Modi’s lockdown of Kashmir and more!

STATEMENT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT:

the International Criminal Court is an independent and impartial judicial institution created by an international treaty, the Rome statute, to which 123 States are parties, hailing from different regions of the World. Its mandate is to investigate and where warranted to prosecute individuals suspected of being responsible for the most grave crimes, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. the ICC can do so only where the national judicial systems, which retain the primary responsibility, are unwilling or incapable to do so. This is known as the complementarity principle by which the ICC does not replace but rather complement the national judicial systems.

The ICC is not focusing on a specific region or on a specific political camps. Since 2003, the Office of the ICC Prosecutor has been conducting investigations in multiple situations within the ICC's jurisdiction, namely in Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur (Sudan); the Central African Republic (two distinct situations); Kenya; Libya; Côte d'Ivoire; Mali; Georgia, Burundi, Afghanistan and Bangladesh/Myanmar. The Prosecutor’s Office is also currently conducting preliminary examinations relating to the situations in Colombia; Guinea; Iraq/UK; the Philippines; Nigeria; Ukraine; and Venezuela(two distinct situations);, while the situation in Palestine is pending judicial ruling.