Sri Lanka, July 17 -- If the decline of US military power is disputed, what is indisputable is its moral decline. Many may have reacted shockingly after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's declaration of war against the International Criminal Court (ICC). But there is very little to be shocked about. Indeed, since the end of World War II, the US has not been known to pursue a foreign policy grounded in high moral principles.

The ICC was established in 2002 to prevent crimes against humanity and punish perpetrators, but in a lengthy oped in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Rubio argued that the global court interferes with US military and law enforcement operations, jeopardising American sovereignty, and therefore should be dismantled....