As Duncan notes below, President Bush has reached a deal with Senator John McCain on the so-called anti-torture bill. I agree with Duncan that as a political, and maybe as a moral matter, the bill is a victory for McCain and critics of the U.S. detainee policies. I disagree with Duncan, however, that the bill is a "legal victory". As...
Those in favor of a “gloves off” approach to the war on terror are finding themselves increasingly isolated both politically and legally. Last week, Secretary of State Rice made front-page news with her pronouncement that “As a matter of U.S. policy, the United States’ obligations under the CAT [the Convention Against Torture], which prohibits, of course, cruel and inhumane...
In the December 19th issue of the New Yorker, Orhan Pamuk (one of my favorite writers, the author of Snow and My Name is Red) has a fascinating piece about his impending trial in Turkey for insulting "Turkish identity" by discussing the Armenian genocide following World War I. Pamuk discusses his confusion at why a state like Turkey that is...
Unsurprisingly, and as I suspected, the UN is having difficulty maintaining its focus in the investigation into Syrian involvement in the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. And, while the investigation has been extended by six months, several members of the Security Council, including Russia, China (both with veto power) and Algeria, have resisted calls to accuse Syria...
The West has shown an impressive display of shock and disgust in response to Ahmadinejad's remarks yesterday that the Holocaust is a myth. But as reported here, the silence from the Arab world has been deafening. "While official Arab reaction in such cases is usually slower than international reaction, any issue involving a defense of Israel is a...
Pajamas Media has a nice set of stories from Kerbala, Basra, Baghdad, Babil, Mosul, Kirkuk and elsewhere in Iraq on the Iraqi elections. Just click here and then the left-hand menu gives you snapshot stories and pictures of the election in different cities. This is very interesting stuff coming out of Pajamas Media, although I must say the contrast between...
If someone sexually assaults a woman in Canadian territorial waters, where would you expect that person to be prosecuted? Why, in Alaska of course. Earlier this week the Alaska Supreme Court rendered an unusual decision in State v. Jack addressing the question of whether a state criminal statute against sexual assault could be applied extraterritorially to prosecute someone who committed...
While on the subject of the Holocaust, in case you missed it, the madness of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now nearing clinical diagnosis with his latest remarks. As reported in the New York Times, Ahmadinejad had this to say today: "Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the...
The book that Michael Bazyler and I have been working on for over two years, Holocaust Restitution: Perspectives on the Litigation and Its Legacy (Bazyler & Alford, eds., 2006) is now available for purchase at Amazon here or NYU Press here. The book has received good reviews (available here) such as IAGS President Israel Charney's blurb that the book...
That's a central question for states as they gather this week in Dakar, Senegal for the 17th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. Unlike its more controversial cousin, the Kyoto Protocol, the Montreal Protocol is widely regarded as the success story for using treaties to address a global problem -- i.e., the hole in the ozone layer. Although...
Dick Marty, the Council of Europe Rapporteur to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights announced today that there is credible evidence of secret detention centers and of detainees being transported through Council member states without required judicial involvement. No detainees are currently being held by the United States in Europe, though Poland and Romania are believed to...
... this is the title of an op-ed in today's International Herald Tribune by Spencer Boyer. Spencer and I were law school classmates and I appreciate his insights.His essay returns to a topic that we have discussed here on Opinio Juris--the riots in an around Paris--but he is provocative in how he assesses prejudices on both sides of...
