Q&A: India's 'Cockroach' Protests, Ukraine's path to NATO & another term for Trump?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is a Global Production.
Look, everything Donald Trump does risks normalizing practices that never happened before. It's very, very, very painful as an American to watch.
Hi, everyone. It is Christiane and Jamie with this week's Q&A episode of The X-Files. This is where we get to answer your questions, and you always send in really good ones, and it's nice to know what you're interested in and what piques your attention. So, hi, Jamie.
Hello, Christiane.
We don't usually start this way, but what we want to do is start by referring to something we talked about at length in last week's Q&A. And that was the upcoming vote on whether the chief prosecutor of the ICC, Kareem Khan, was going to be able to keep his job because of the complaints lodged by an as yet unnamed staffer, advisor at the ICC of serious sexual assault. Now she came forward to me as you know her name is Sarah and she told me her story. The vote took place in New York by all the states parties who are signed on to the ICC and it wasn't even close. This vote on Friday 82 voted to dismiss him permanently from his job 13 disagreed and 15 abstained. So her story was incredibly powerful.
I'm sure his lawyers, Kareem Khan's lawyers will try to pursue this, but her story is out. And I know that she's, you know, Weirdly, there's been a lot of mixed reaction online and elsewhere, and I hope she's okay because she took a brave, brave step to tell me her story, and it's important that we listen. And Jamie, it will have... Yeah, you tell me.
I would just add that had they not done that, it would have really damaged the International Criminal Court, which is already suffering from all of the different complex duties that we talked about, where international law is suffering a lot in the modern era when the three major powers don't really believe in it. That is the United States, Russia and China.
Yeah, exactly. US, Russia and China are major existential threats beyond this particular issue to the ICC. But what I'm concerned about with Sarah is that certainly in the Middle East, people have conflated her complaint about sexual assault with the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli leadership and the Hamas leadership. People are still saying she's a Mossad agent, she's trying to destroy that case. And it's really a disgrace. I think people should really look into their hearts and souls, know that this has been investigated and try to separate these two issues. They are separate and distinct issues. Both things can be true, and she does not have to make explanations as to why she's not a Mossad agent.
I mean, it really is actually outrageous on a professional and a personal level for her.
All right, let me ask you the first question. Ukraine, Paul on email asks, Ukraine joining NATO has long been seen as a step that could trigger nuclear war. With Putin appearing weaker than before, is it time to rethink that position? Could a clearer path to NATO membership for Ukraine be the pressure Putin needs to make him abandon his ambitions in Ukraine? I think the short answer to that question is no. And I'm sorry to say no, but it's no. I think that had Ukraine's path to NATO membership been made clearer earlier... It might have deterred Putin, but I don't think it's going to solve the problem right now, nor do I think it would trigger nuclear war, by the way, because the thing about nuclear war is it's not good for either side.
That's the point of nuclear deterrence, is that nuclear war is a disaster and an end-of-country kind of scenario for who's ever involved. But NATO membership is not on the table now. I cannot imagine Donald Trump allowing Ukraine into NATO. Joe Biden was reluctant to make a specific commitment on timing. And I think that will remain so until this war is over and some arrangement is made to have a peace that's stable, that gives a security assurance to Ukraine that either will be similar to NATO membership or equivalent to it in some other fashion.
But to the other part of the question about Putin being weaker, he is weaker in many ways, but he hasn't changed his mind.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–5:51
2
What was the ICC vote outcome and why did Christiane revisit last week’s Q&A?
5:51–7:40
3
How did the whistleblower “Sarah” impact the International Criminal Court’s credibility?
7:40–19:44
4
Could Ukraine’s NATO membership now be reconsidered given Putin’s apparent weakness?
19:44–22:30
5
Why do the hosts say NATO membership for Ukraine is not feasible right now?
22:30–23:11
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files
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