Belgian courts

As long as we are on the subject of courts (see the entry below), the NY Times reports today that the Belgian court announced today that it is easing the rules for who can be brought up on war crimes charges. Now victims have to be Belgian, the plaintiffs have to live in Belgium for at least three years, and the accused has to come from a non-democratic country that cannot administer justice itself.

There are a few ups and downs to that new legal modification. On the up side: 1) Sharon and Bush can now have all the waffels they want - ie, they can visit Belgium. 2) We do not have to rename Belgian waffels to something stupid sounding. On the down side: 1) I can no longer request that Arafat be brought up on charges for crimes against humanity.

This all seems like a move to make the US happy, and not risk getting bogged down in whatever punishment will get metted out to the French come the end of the war.