Sudan, Bashir, the ICC, and the "world's largest plea bargain"?

The plot thickens on Darfur. First comes yesterday's New York Times story that Sudan's disparate political forces have all united behind President Bashir. That's right, the indictment has managed to do something that no one has been able to do in Sudan for over 60 years: get all factions to agree on something. Too bad they're all agreeing that the indictment is a bad idea. Part of this is politics -- most Sudanese factions have people who have committed crimes against humanity at this point -- but part of it, as the Times puts it, is that the factions "looked into the abyss" and saw Somalia.

Does this mean that the indictment was a good idea, and will actually advance the peace process? Perhaps. Perhaps it's just a giant bargaining chip in the "world's largest plea bargain," as this fellow shrewdly suggests.