Agreed, but perhaps, even more constructively: "Great, you agree we need more of an ability to shine a light on--and hold people to account for--human rights abuses worldwide."

The US has been deeply hypocritical by opposing the ICC, for example. But the policy fixes that we need for what's happening in Xinjiang--public accountability, international institutions with teeth--are the same ones we needed for what happened (and is still happening), at a fraction of the scale of Xinjiang, in Guantanamo.

"Whataboutism" only works because the whatabouters assume their opponents will reflexively defend the US (or whomever). The implication is, strangely, not "The US has done this too, so we need strong institutions to hold the powerful to account" but, rather, "The US has done this too, so whatareyougonnado?"

The people responsible for those many abuses and injustices are the ones cynically pushing for aggression against Russia and China. You can’t separate the two in reality.

This story is specifically about a man that members of the U.S. government were lobbying to come and testify at the ICC ("...after months of behind-the-scenes lobbying by U.S. lawmakers, human rights activists and international lawyers"). The ICC that the U.S. is not only not a member of, but specifically has a law against anyone assisting the ICC in cases against members of the American government[1]. I don't see why the motivations of the groups involved shouldn't be discussed.

Likewise, if someone suspects someone of bias, I don't think it's unimportant to ask them if they hold consistent positions. If a Trump supporter is talking about how Biden should be impeached for something Trump did, I don't think it's "whatboutism" to ask if they would hold the same standard to Trump (or vice versa). There's a big difference between being concerned about something because of an underlying moral principal, and being concerned about something because of a specific bias against one of the groups involved. This used to be considered an important distinction, but now people act as if we shouldn't even talk about it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Pr...