A victory for the rule of law

The US has withdrawn its resultion to renew its immunity to ICC jurisdiction while participating in UN-sanctioned operations, after it became apparent that it could not muster the nine votes required to pass. This represents a victory for the rule of law - and a low point for the US's influence at the UN. Even with all their arm-twisting, they couldn't bully enough countries into bowing to their demands. The world stood united against the US - and won.

As for the consequences, the US has said that they will "need to take into account the risk of ICC review when determining contributions to UN authorised or established operations" - but this is a hollow threat. As I pointed out earlier, all their troops are either in Iraq, coming home from Iraq, or preparing to return to Iraq. They don't have any troops to contribute to UN operations anyway, and its likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.