[mburbank]

Eye tie has a point, but I think it's shame in two seperate ways.

The first is the abbregation of Clinton's signature. This is not a Bush/Clinton thing I'm complaining about, it's setting the precedent and sending the signal that America's commitemnts should be seen as lasting no longer than the term of the current chief executive. It makes us less trustworthy on the national stage.

The second is that while a world court , like the UN would be flawed, it would be another international structure for conflict resolution short of war.

I also think, since crimes against humanity don't have a statue of limmitations, we are actively worried by the prospect of American Politicians (Kissinger first and foremost, but certainly not alone) might have to answer for some of the things we've done, particularly in South America. On a darker note, I think most administrations want to reserve the right to do this sort of thing again.

I think it's a sign of things to come that even without the US or Russai or China for that matter, much of the world is going ahead without us.