The List
By Constantine Murmur
The United States of America has, in the course of the current administration, withdrawn from or announced its intention to withdraw from the following international institutions and agreements: the World Health Organisation, the UN Human Rights Council, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Venice Commission on constitutional law, the Group of States against Corruption, and the International Criminal Court’s governing framework. It has declined to invite OSCE observers to its congressional elections. It has imposed sanctions on the ICC’s prosecutor, four of its judges, and thirteen of its officials. It has issued a sanctions waiver for Russian fuel following a telephone call with Vladimir Putin, during which the President said of his interlocutor: “He better damn well stop.” It has sanctioned the ICC on the same day its former judge was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Commissioner Myrmidon, who has been maintaining a list, notes that the list has become longer than is convenient to reproduce in a single paragraph. He has formed certain views about the direction of travel. Madame Graticula has suggested he sit down.
It is worth pausing on the Nobel Peace Prize timing, since it illuminates something the list alone does not capture. The Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, former ICC judge, on 10 October 2026. The United States imposed sanctions on thirteen ICC officials on 10 October 2026. This is not a coincidence in the conspiratorial sense — the sanctions had been in preparation for some time — but it is a coincidence in the moral sense: the same institution was simultaneously recognised by one part of the world as an achievement of civilisation and targeted by another as a threat to national security. Commissioner Myrmidon notes that both of these things happened on the same day, in the same world, and that the EU’s response was to express deep regret and offer a window for dialogue. He notes further that China’s response to the Nobel Peace Prize going to Liu Xiaobo in 2010 was to impose sanctions on Norway. He does not draw a comparison. He simply notes that both things happened, and that the EU’s window for dialogue is six months long, and that the ICC’s bank accounts are not.
The Group of States against Corruption, from which the United States withdrew last week, monitors compliance with anti-corruption standards across its member states. Its most recent evaluation of the United States, published in 2020, identified significant deficiencies in the transparency of presidential campaign financing. The United States has since left GRECO rather than address them. Commissioner Myrmidon notes that GRECO’s annual budget is a fraction of the Council of Europe’s total operating costs. The United States defence budget is $895 billion. Commissioner Myrmidon has divided one by the other and obtained a figure he considers instructive. Madame Graticula has advised him not to publish it, on the grounds that arithmetic, in the current climate, may be considered a provocation.
The EU’s response to all of the above — the withdrawals, the sanctions, the Nobel timing, the GRECO departure, the Russian fuel waiver — has been, in aggregate, statements of deep regret, expressions of unwavering support, and offers of dialogue. Eight member states issued a joint statement on the ICC. The Commission posted on X. Kaja Kallas noted that a six-month window exists. Commissioner Myrmidon has read all of these statements. He considers them timely. Madame Graticula has suggested that “timely” may no longer be adequate. The Commissioner is considering her advice. The window, meanwhile, is open.