This summer Kimberly Prost, a Canadian judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), arrived at her home in The Hague and, as was her habit, called out “Alexa”.
There was silence. The voice-activated assistant did not respond. “Alexa was dead. She wouldn’t talk to me,” Prost recalled in an interview with The Irish Times.
Prost had been added to the United States’ sanctions list, because in 2020 she ruled to authorise an investigation into possible atrocities in Afghanistan, including by US troops. Amazon, obliged to implement the sanctions as a US company, had cancelled her account.
It was just the start of what Prost describes as a “pervasive, negative effect” of the sanctions across all aspects of her life, which has shut her out from much of the international banking system.
Same. I had to disclose every single investment and bank account, payment apps, and loan for myself, my wife, and any dependents like children or aging parents. All to avoid even a possibility of something looking like a conflict of interest. In the meantime the fucking president of the country can hawk meme coins, and pardon actual convicted fraudsters. I asked about that on one of those zoom calls, but was ignored for some reason.
I wasn’t even going political… Just saying if I can’t afford lunch I can’t afford to bribe a leader of a country.
I didn’t have to disclose any information like that, just check a box saying I pinky promise I won’t slip vladamir putin a crisp one dollar bill…