Today's Headlines and Commentary

The Palestinian mission to the United Nations delivered documents needed in order to join the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and more than a dozen other international treaties. The Palestinians will become party to the court on the first day of the month that follows a 60-day waiting period after handing over the signed and ratified documents to the United Nations. Reuters has more. Writing in Reuters, Noah Browning characterizes the move as Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas’s most serious confrontation with Israel yet. The accession follows other steps to seek the “trappings of statehood” without waiting for negotiations with Israel to progress. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the ICC to reject the move, calling it a “duplicitous application because the Palestinian Authority is not a state” and is “allied with a terror organization, Hamas.” In the New York Times, Jodi Rudoren notes that the cases the PA plans to bring to the ICC are unlike any the court has ever tackled in its twelve-year history, as the issues are very much in the public eye and the politics are complex to say the least. Aside from the political dimensions, there are also difficult legal questions associated with the potential cases: according to a law professor cited in Rudoren's piece, cases in front of the ICC have involved the systematic murder or rape of tens of thousands, not incidental deaths from attacks on enemy targets. As to whether or not the settlements amount to war crimes, the ICC would have to wade into determining the border between the two countries, something it is unlikely to do. More than 76,000 people were killed in Syria’s civil war in 2014, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. That number includes 3501 children, and makes 2014 the deadliest year so far in the war that began in 2011. The United Nations says that about 200,000 people have died in the conflict so far. Reuters reports that the United States and its partners continue to hit the Islamic State inside both Iraq and Syria, launching 29 airstrikes on Wednesday alone. However, NPR discloses that for its part, Jordan has suspended bombing in Syria as it works to secure the safe return of First Lieutenant Moaz al Kasasbeh, a Jordanian fighter pilot who was captured by ISIS after his plane went down near Raqqa. For the US military advisers in Iraq, war is edging ever closer. More than 300 US troops are currently posted in Iraq’s western Anbar province, where Iraqi forces, tribal militants, and ISIS fighters are currently in the middle of a heated battle. According to the Washington Post, militants have hit the base repeatedly with artillery and rocket fire in recent weeks. And, while those attacks have proven ineffective, the US has had to launch 13 airstrikes to protect the facility since mid-December. Finally, al Nusra has released a video of two Italian hostages, both young women, who are in their custody. The Daily Beast carries the story on the ongoing efforts by the Italian government to get them out. Deutsche Welle reports that 2014 was also the deadliest year on record for Afghan civilians, with more than 3,180 civilians killed and more than 6,430 injured. That news comes as Afghan authorities pledged to investigate the deaths of at least 20 civilians who were killed during a mortar attack on a wedding in Helmand province. As many as 50 people were injured by at least three mortar rounds fired from an Afghan National Army outpost. The Associated Press carries an account of the Afghan army’s early proving ground in the mountains of Kunar province near the border with Pakistan, where for three-weeks they have held back wave after wave of Taliban attacks. From one dangerous border to another: India and Pakistan exchanged deadly fire in the restive Kashmir region on Wednesday, reports Voice of America. Both sides have blamed the other, as Islamabad accused India of ambushing and killing two border security officers who they claim were invited for a routine meeting in Kashmir by their Indian counterparts. India accused Pakistan of causing the incident, saying that Pakistani troops killed an Indian soldier earlier in the day. Quartz reports that India has blocked 31 popular internet sites for carrying “anti-India” content from ISIS. You can see the full list provided by Quartz. As oil prices hit a five-year low, Iran’s deputy foreign minister criticized Saudi Arabia’s inaction, calling it a strategic mistake and suggesting the oil-rich kingdom should take steps to reverse the freefall in the price of crude oil. Falling oil prices are squeezing Tehran’s finances even further, with Iran needed oil to trade near $140 per barrel to balance its budgets. According to Reuters, the Ukrainian military suffered its first death of 2015 this morning. A spokesman for the military said that a soldier had been killed and five others wounded in an attack by pro-Russian rebels. More than 4,700 people were killed in the conflict in 2014. In Bloomberg, Josh Rogin provides an inside view of Obama’s “secret” outreach to Russia. And while very little about the report is truly secret, it is a window into the approach the Obama administration is taking - one which attempts to separate the issue of Crimea from the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine. In a surprise move, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un made an apparent offer yesterday during his new-year speech to hold a summit with his South Korean counterpart. Even so, the Wall Street Journal notes that Mr. Kim gave no indication that he would rein in his belligerence toward Seoul. A federal judge has denied requests by Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, to delay his trial by nine months and to move it to another city. Although there will likely be an appeal, jury selection is set to begin on Monday. Tsarnaev denies detonating the bombs that killed three people and injured 260 more in Boston in 2013. Parting Shot: In Foreign Policy, David Rothkopf shares his top foreign policy story of 2014 and a little on all the others that may have made us miss its importance.

ICYMI: Yesterday, On Lawfare

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