Obama's Climate Accord - Not a Treaty?

The New York Times reported yesterday that President Obama was "Pursuing a Climate Accord in Lieu of a Treaty". What does this mean? Is an international accord not a treaty? How does it differ? Or is it only relevant as a matter of domestic law? Take a read of the article, and in light of what we have discussed in class today, post your thoughts!

UPDATE: Here is a blog post on this issue, on the international law blog Opinio Juris (something you should get in the habit of scanning). Note that this is as much about U.S. constitutional law as it is about international law. But it is interesting.

Successful Treaty on Land Mines

As we begin to examine the law of treaties, and consider the extent to which treaties successfully moderate or shape state behavior, here is a story from earlier this summer on how the relatively recently concluded Convention on the Prohibition on the Use, Production, Stockpiling and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines (the Ottawa Treaty), has had a fairly significant impact on the use of land-mines around the world.