I really, really, REALLY meant to be done with the UN slamming for the month, but today's news from the International Court ... their verdict on the Srebrenica Massacre ... will not let me rest until I've done one more round of trashing.

If you don't think this has anything to do with international adoptions, you'll be wrong. The ripples run deep and wide when it comes to war and genocide, and children, always with their fates wrapped around their ankles to weigh them down, get thrown in, and they are often the first tentative buds on the timid growth breaking through the crust of carnage left behind.

My kids most certainly are part of the legacy of genocide, and adoptees from most countries had their paths laid out years before they appeared on the planet by conflicts, battles and systematic killing. Our children's birth parents are often survivors of horrendous circumstances, and extended birth families may struggle and suffer for generations. Our kids are bound to the history of horror, and we're tied to it with them.

This "International Court of Justice", yet another finger of the grasping hand at the end of the flaccid arm that is the United Nations, is the first international body set up for the prosecution of war crimes since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials held in the aftermath of WWll. It was established in 1993, and all UN members are obliged to cooperate. It can not try suspects in absentia, nor can it impose the death penalty. The tribunal has 1,062 staff and its 2004-05 budget was $271,854,600.00.

So, what did conclusion did this auspicious, expensive ... and need I add well dressed? ... judicial body come up with over the mass murder of 8,000 men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia, conducted by the Serbian army?

Genocide?

Yep. Sure. No doubt about it.

Who's to blame?

No one.

Well, maybe some individuals, but certainly not the Serbian government in Belgrade.

They get a tap on the wrist with the Court saying that Serbia did, indeed, break international law by failing to stop the killings ... apparently no big deal there ... but there will be no reparations.

"Financial compensation is not the appropriate form of reparation," the ruling said.

And what would be appropriate?

In typical UN fashion, the answer to that would be: How should we know?

Useless.