Tangled Web

Yesterday at the Supreme court, they ruled that, as far as states are concerned, an international treaty that US initiated and got other countries to sign on, was not binding.

USA introduced a treaty that, if a foreign national was convicted and given the death penalty, s/he should be allowed to meet and talk to a diplomat from that country. A bunch of countries signed on.

We have about 50 foreign nationals on death row in various states, and some states have decided not to honor the pesky treaty. Mexico complained to international court about this. So the US government takes itself out of the jurisdiction of the court, but tells Mexico that their guys will be given alternate punishment or not be killed until the issue is resolved. Now, Texas has a problem with this, because they want to keep their death row machine going without a glitch. So they complain to the Supreme court, and they decide that the federal government has no right to tell the states to hold off on stuff like this, treaty or no treaty. What a mess!

This boy in the schoolyard, gets in fights, wants to change rules, but says new rule only applies to other people, argues with himself, sulks, takes the ball and goes home. Strange kid.

How are the US diplomats going to persuade others on anything, given this precedent? I guess you could just threaten them with war.