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At a review conference next year, some will press for this charge to be added to the court’s detailed sheet
of punishable crimes. That would be premature. Informal discussions among the signatories to the court
and some interested outsiders have produced tentative agreement on a definition of aggression. China
and Russia have joined the talks, though they are not signatories. The United States, another non-signer,
has held aloof, though the Obama administration could yet decide to take part. Trickiest of all, however,
will be to figure out a way for the court to finger an alleged culprit without treading on the prerogatives of
the UN Security Council, which is supposed to decide on all matters of war and peace.
Eventually a mechanism may be agreed that involves the council. America, China and Russia are unlikely
to join the court until that happens and even then may not. The Geneva conventions are taking a
battering, and the victims of war are still getting short shrift. But count on the big powers to hold their
own ground.
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