State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger concluded his response to the UN Committee Against Torture yesterday, addressing over 50 questions concerning the U.S. practice and policy relating to torture. The UN's summary of Friday's meeting is available here and Monday's meeting is available here. (The State Department has not yet issued summaries or transcripts). It is...
As veteran readers of this blog may recall, I've been studying the way that federal courts use foreign decisions, a hot topic since the Supreme Court cited European cases in Roper, Atkins, and Lawrence, all of which were decisions expanding constitutional protections, and all of which have been hotly decried and hotly defended for resorting to foreign law. I...
I had the opportunity to see United 93 over the weekend. Resist the doubters and go see this movie. It is more than worth the price of admission. It achieves one of its principal goals, which was to address the question, "What should be our response to terrorism?" In the words of Director Paul Greengrass, "the terrible dilemma those...
Nicholas Kristof has another good column on Darfur today. His focus turns to those who deserve credit for battling American indifference. His answer: bloggers, teenagers, and celebrities. They are the new grassroots citizens army in this battle against bystanding on the genocide in Darfur. "For three grueling years, Eric Reeves has been fighting for his life,...
Forbes has published its annual list of the world's 10 wealthiest "Kings, Queens, and Dictators." Heading the list, not surprisingly, are the oil magnates: King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia ($21 billion), Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei ($20 billion), and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE ($19 billion). The first ruler not in...
Thirteen of the leading malaria experts in the world are accusing the World Bank of lying about its efforts to fight malaria: Today, 13 malaria specialists from around the world accuse the World Bank of reneging on its promise to spend at least $300m on malaria control in Africa. They say much of its spending from 2000 to 2005 has been concealed,...
State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger appeared before the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva to discuss the U.S. policy and practice as it relates to torture. A transcript of Bellinger's remarks is not yet available. An eleven page questionnaire presented by the Committee Against Torture is available here. Some of the questions are extraordinarily interesting and,...
The Fifth Circuit recently rendered an important decision relating to international arbitration. The case of Bridas v. Turkmenistan (“Bridas II”) addressed the confirmation of an arbitration award. An Argentine corporation, Bridas, had contracted with a Turkmenistan government entity. The arbitrators rendered a $495 million award against the Turkmenistan government entity as well as against the Government of...
Hi, everybody. I'm no comparativist, but Zacarias Moussaoui is in the news, and I wonder if we can learn anything about the wise criminal prosecution of our enemies by comparing them to domestic criminal defendants. When I think about the Moussaoui trial, I think circus, not least because of the tenuous claims of the prosecution trying to portray...
Opinio Juris welcomes our friend and colleague Professor David Zaring of Washington & Lee Law School as a guest blogger for a couple of weeks. Professor Zaring's scholarship focuses on adminisrative law, with a particular emphasis on transnational networks and intergovernmental regulation. His SSRN page is here. Some of you may know David's sharp and insightful blogging from guest...
It is rare that the U.S., Japan, Europe AND the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan all agree on something, but here it is. The aforesaid countries, plus the S-G, are locked in a serious struggle with a group of 77 developing countries over control of the U.N. budget. (See here for Amb. Bolton's summary of the problems) The developed countries...
I'm late to this notice but Foreign Policy Magazine has put out a "Failed States Index" ranking nations on 12 political and economic measures of instability. Not surprisingly, Sudan tops the list. Iraq is fourth and Afghanistan is tenth. The factors FP used include such obvious characteristics as demographic pressure, level of human flight, etc. This is...
