Politics
UN Week Splits Japan Over the ICC, the 'Enemy State' Clause, and Trump
Three events from UN General Assembly week were discussed together in Japan as a single question of how to face international institutions and great-power politics: Trump urging members to quit the ICC, PM Takaichi demanding the prompt deletion of the UN Charter's old 'enemy state' clause, and Trump berating a CNN reporter at UN headquarters. They are distinct events that surfaced during the same week. Opinion split hardest over the enemy-state clause — supporters cheered while realists warned it hands China a diplomatic pretext — and over the ICC itself, which some mocked as an anti-US farce and others defended as the one body that can move against leaders like Putin.