Commentary: There are consequences to pursuing a war crimes case against Vladimir Putin

The International Criminal Court’s March 17 decision to issue war crimes charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin was shocking in more ways than one. This was the first time in 12 years a head of state has been charged by the international court; in 2011, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi was indicted on two counts of crimes against humanity for his indiscriminate crackdown on protests. Gadhafi, however, was a tinpot dictator of a small, largely inconsequential North African state — not a major player in the international system ruling one of the world’s largest oil and natural gas