[clort]

Sanctions are official, but Trump phoning up the CEO and whining about nonsense is something else. I'd be concerned that a US company would be vastly more likely to fold from the latter than a German one would. Sanctions enacted against a German or EU company on a whim would perhaps cause some international response.

[epistasis]

In this case it was official sanctions enacted on a whim against a person, the ICC prosecutor.

[clort]

Point taken, but reading that official sanction just shows a load of whining.

However, I was able to read it, which would not be the case if he had just phoned Nadella. Who knows, perhaps he did and Nadella refused to play? I see that he did not attend the inauguration..

[epistasis]

Right, it is definitely whining. But it also makes the case that it's risky to depend on services from a US company, as the whims of a tyrant may force all US companies to cut ties.

I doubt Trump even knew how the sanctions would play out, in terms of all the effects on the ICC. But the IT services are a clear one for the HN crowd to pay attention to.