Credibility gap for international justice

YESTERDAY, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges against the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of masterminding the mass murder of black African tribes in Darfur which has led to the deaths of some 400,000 people. On the surface, this seems only justice. The dictatorial regime in Khartoum has been found guilty of ethnic cleansing by the United Nations yet continues to defy international attempts to restore order in Darfur.

However, others see the ICC move as more Keystone Cops than the rule of law. For a start, the ICC has no means of arresting Bashir, or the other members of the Sudanese regime with ICC arrest warrants against their name; particularly as China, Khart...