Over the past several months amnesia seems to have spread among governments and television pundits. Though everyone has undoubtedly seen Pirates of the Caribbean, no one knows what to do with real-world pirates. They chose to forget over two millennia of historical precedent. Fortunately, with the case of Maersk, the US government did not take the same confused approach - though things were made much easier by the fact that the ship is American, rather than another country's.

This past week the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for crimes committed in Darfur. Although surely motivated out of good intentions, this warrant will prove to be a test of the court’s legitimacy and strength. While looking at it that way, we are forced to ask, will the ICC be stronger for it or will it be shown to be another “paper dragon” institution of international governance?