The International Criminal Court doesn't have the power to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for alleged war crimes involving accusations Moscow has forcibly taken Ukrainian children, says Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt.
The ICC on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes.
The move was immediately dismissed by Moscow — and welcomed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough.
"He's got a big prison cell called Russia that he can roam around in and he's probably going to be protected wherever he goes in, you know, in his alliances, North Korea, Russia, China, the usual, but that's where we sit right now," Holt said Friday during an appearance on Newsmax TV's "Chris Salcedo Show."
"It's a very symbolic maneuver. It needs to be done. The abduction of the children alone, let alone what happened in Bucha, Ukraine, is absolutely horrific and we need to do these things but there's so much more to be done."
The U.S. isn't doing enough to stop the war in Ukraine, and China is stepping in and upstaging the Biden administration, says retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning a visit to Moscow next week to meet with Putin and reports say he will even hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy soon, the latest sign of Beijing's emboldened diplomatic ambitions.
"Joe Biden has been bought off, he's taking a knee. The roles that we would traditionally serve to be the broker of peace to try to resolve these things before they get out of hand, they're not doing it," Shaffer told Newsmax.
"The administration knows ahead of time when China is about to do something, and they do nothing to abort it. They did the same thing in the Middle East, where the Abraham Accords essentially has been torn to shreds because now the Chinese have jumped in and did this reproach between Iran and Saudi Arabia and this fits into the long-term plan of China to undermine the United States' prestige and, more importantly, the economic dominance of the dollar," he added.
"This is something that they're doing; it's both diplomatic, military, and most importantly, economic, and this is a big move both for the economic reasons that will come out of this, the relationship, and the fact that China is seen as a dominant global power at this point regarding trying to resolve strategic conflicts such as Russia and Ukraine."
Everything the U.S. is doing is "greenlighting Chinese behavior," said Holt.
"In Jake Sullivan's own words, well he spoke up and said, well, he thought Xi Jinping's involvement would be a productive thing and maybe this would mean that China wouldn't back Russia militarily."
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