The U.S. Wants To "Dismantle" The ICC

Hi readers, happy Tuesday! Today we’re covering the U.S.’s campaign against the ICC, Senator Lindsey Graham’s passing, the U.S.-Iran war returning, the U.K.’s new terror bill, Mitch McConnell’s return, an ICE shooting in Maine, and Apple’s case against OpenAI

“Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Global Policeman vs. The International Criminal Court

Yesterday, the U.S. launched a campaign to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC). The effort, which is being spearheaded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, claims that the court is “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles,” but with “the force of so-called international law.”

The ICC was established as part of 1998’s Rome Statute, which established that genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression are international crimes. The statute established the ICC in order to prosecute and investigate those crimes when countries are “unable” or “unwilling” to do so on their own. Individuals indicted by the court include former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. 125 countries are member states of the ICC (meaning their people can be prosecuted by the court) – the U.S., China, Russia, India, and Israel are among those not under the court’s jurisdiction.

The court has come under fire from the Trump White house for a variety of reasons, including its attempts to investigate U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan, as well as its arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for their alleged role in committing war crimes in Gaza. According to a State Department official, “whole-of-government campaign” against the ICC means that “nations that refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US assistance are likely to come under increased scrutiny.” That means they would likely become targets of U.S. travel bans, visa revocations, and increased sanctions. 

“The ICC is not claiming jurisdiction over conduct in the United States,” said the former executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Rubio is dressing up his quest for impunity for American war crimes under the label of national sovereignty, which ignores the sovereign right of other nations to invoke the ICC for crimes committed on their territory … Trump wants to be able to commit war crimes on the territory of countries that have accepted the court’s jurisdiction – that’s what this is about.”

A Farewell To Graham

On Sunday, Republican Senator and close Trump ally Lindsey Graham suddenly passed away. According to a preliminary medical examiner’s report, the senator’s unexpected death was the result of an aortic dissection. Basically, he experienced a tear in his body’s largest artery, which widened under the pressure of blood flowing out of it – aortic dissections cause death via severe internal bleeding or organ damage (among other things), but Graham’s official cause of death will only be determined after toxicological and microscopic testing.

In the wake of Graham’s death, Trump said that he’d talked to the senator on Saturday, after the lawmaker had returned from a trip to Ukraine. He “sounded a little bit tired, but perfect,” the president claimed, adding that Graham was “like a member of the family. It's very tough.” Besides being a close ally of Trump, Graham was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and Israel, and also heavily advocated for the U.S. war with Iran.

Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been chosen to take his place in the Senate, and is set to be sworn in later today. She’s worked as an optician and in the government, including roles at the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and the Department of Employment and Workforce.

The Summer I Went To War Again

• Yesterday, the U.S.-Israel-Iran war continued to backslide, as Trump announced that the U.S. plans to re-implement its blockade of Iran. This time, though, the U.S. isn’t using its military to enforce the lofty goal of free trade – instead, the White House plans to charge other countries a toll if they want their tankers to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz. “We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran's ships or customers from entering or leaving,” the president wrote in a TruthSocial post.

• In another indication that we’re slipping back to a full-on conflict, the U.S. carried out three consecutive nights of strikes on targets in Iran over the weekend and Monday. “At 4:45 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command began launching the third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, at the Commander in Chief's direction,” wrote CENTCOM in a tweet. “These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Starmer’s Last Wish

• Earlier this year, outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government’s intention to pass a piece of legislation named the National Security (State Threats) Act. That bill is aimed at creating a new government-defined category of “designated state threat organisations,” and makes “supporting, assisting or obtaining material benefits from” those organizations punishable by up to 14 years in prison. “Supporting,” in this case, includes expressing “an opinion or belief that is supportive of a designated body” – meaning any speech in support of a group that the U.K. government deems a threat is, again, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

• Yesterday, U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced three groups that will become designated threat organizations once the bill is passed. Those groups are: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), and the volunteer corps of Russia’s GRU (Moscow’s foreign military intelligence agency). “Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,” Mahmood said in a statement. “I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.” The new bill has been fast-tracked through Parliament and is expected to be approved by the legislature later this week.

Additional World News

• Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100,000 jobs globally (BBC) 

• Japan Builds Intelligence Agency It Hasn’t Had Since World War II (NYT, $)

• Bangkok pub fire kills 27, police investigating possible negligence (Reuters)

• Norway's other World Cup campaign: Getting Israel kicked out of soccer (Politico)

• Ukraine and 9 other countries form coalition to protect Europe from ballistic missiles (PBS)

• Yemen's Houthis strike Saudi Arabia's Abha airport with missiles and drones in a sharp escalation (AP)

Mitch McConnell Is Back

• After almost a full month of vague statements about his health, Senator Mitch McConnell (a public servant) finally made a public appearance on Sunday. Or at least, he publicly posted a picture of himself looking healthy, not-so-subtly featuring a newspaper published on the same day. In a statement accompanying the image, McConnell (or more likely his team) wrote that the senator had fallen and was “briefly unconscious” during a health incident in mid-June, which – combined with a milk led to his lengthy hospital stay. “My doctors have confirmed that I didn't break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages,” McConnell wrote, adding that he’s now “regaining my strength.”

• The 84 year-old’s office waved away his four-week silence by writing that “folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older,” before adding that the senator isn’t healthy enough to return to work “quite yet.” Combined with the death of Lindsey Graham, McConnell’s absence means that Senate Republicans currently hold just a two-vote majority (51-47), making it harder for GOP lawmakers to push their agenda through before November’s midterm elections.

Blood Shed In Biddeford

• On Monday, a federal immigration agent shot and killed a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine as the Trump White House continues to intensify its immigration arrests across the nation. It’s not currently clear what happened, but according to Maine Senator Angus King, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him that the agent had opened fire on the victim after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. “He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said. 

• The Maine attorney general’s office offered a bit more insight into the incident, which it’s investigating in coordination with the FBI. In a statement to the AP, the office said that the shooting victim was being targeted for deportation in relation to an immigration judge’s final order of removal, and the agent who killed him was placed on leave following the shooting.

• Conveniently, none of the agents involved in the incident had body cams recording footage. According to two advocacy groups, the man who the agent killed was authorized to work in the U.S., and also had a Social Security number. “I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” said one woman who lives near the site of the incident. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.” Just last week, immigration agents also shot and killed a Mexican construction worker and father of three during a traffic stop in Houston.

Additional USA News

• Trump fires Election Assistance Commission leaders (CNN)

• US refunds $81bn in Trump tariffs after supreme court ruled them illegal (Guardian)

• Who Will Win the Midterms? Nate Silver and 5 Other Experts Have Thoughts. (NYT, $)

• Hegseth announces joint taskforce with DoJ to target and prosecute press leaks (Guardian)

• A Leak of San Francisco Police Drone Footage Exposes the New Reality of Urban Surveillance (Wired)

• US judge voids Donald Trump's $1.8bn settlement with IRS that gave him immunity from tax audits (BBC) 

Open Season On OpenAI

• Last Friday, Apple sued OpenAI, its chief hardware officer Tang Tan, and a few ex-Apple employees now working for the AI giant, accusing those parties of stealing trade secrets from the iPhone maker. Tan had worked at Apple for 24 years (including as the vice president of the Apple Watch) before leaving to work at io, an AI hardware company that was acquired by OpenAI in 2025.

• “At every level, from members of its technical staff to its chief hardware officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” Apple said in its lawsuit. “As a natural result, OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”

• Apple has accused Tan of fishing for confidential Apple projects while interviewing Apple employees for roles at OpenAI, and also claims that multiple Apple-to-OpenAI employees funneled confidential information from Apple via interpersonal relationships and security backdoors. OpenAI replied by stating that it “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.”

Additional Reads

• Siri AI is already changing how I use my iPhone (Verge)  

• The Unintended Consequences of Genetic Tests (Atlantic, $)

• ‘Spermageddon’: is the world facing a male reproductive crisis? (Guardian)

• In Turning to Trade School, Gen Z Confronts an Enduring Stigma (NYT, $)

• What to know about 'explosive diarrhoea' parasite outbreak in US (BBC) 

• Argentina court recognizes two goldfish as sentient beings with rights (CNN)

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