In association with the International Commission of Jurists

April 2008

16 Apr

Many thanks to Opinio Juris and the Virginia Journal of International Law for hosting the symposium and inviting me to participate, as well as to Kevin Heller for agreeing to comment on my article. The article addresses a fundamental question about the purposes of international criminal trials: Do international criminal trials serve primarily legal purposes, similar to the objectives of domestic...

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15 Apr

Good:The United States military said Monday that it would release an Associated Press photographer who has been jailed in Iraq without trial for two years on accusations of terrorism and kidnapping. The announcement came after two rulings over the previous week by panels of Iraqi judges, who said that the photographer, Bilal Hussein, was covered by an amnesty law and should...

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15 Apr

The checks and refund requests won't only be coming in by domestic mail. The US is one of only a handful of states that subject nonresident citizens to income tax. All nonresident citizens abroad have to file; and those earning more than $85,700 may have to pony up. It can complicate pay packages, as detailed in this...

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15 Apr

Our hope for those who are working to promote the legal concept of odious debt—whatever their political stripe or ecumenical affiliation—is that our exploration of Sack’s life will serve to lessen the focus on Sack and his theory in a way that will redound to the benefit of the movement. The emphasis on Sack’s résumé has had two negative...

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15 Apr

Those of you who follow the literature and debate about odious debts forgiveness have probably noted the frequent mention of Alexander Sack, who is credited with authoring the doctrine of odious debts in his 1927 treatise on the subject of sovereign debt partition: Les Effets des transformations des Etats sur leurs dettes publiques et autres obligations financiers. Sack is...

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14 Apr

Okay, that's a joke. But I'm not sure quite what to make of Global Governance Watch, a new joint project of the American Enterprise Institute and the Federalist Society. (Bolton keynoted today's launch.) On the one hand, you just know there has to be an anti-internationalist strategem at work here, and there is some evidence to back...

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14 Apr

Free speech at the Beijing Olympics is becoming a hot topic. IOC President Jacques Rogge held a press conference last week taking a firm line restricting all political speech anywhere at an Olympic site. Rule 51.3 of the Olympic Charter provides that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites,...

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14 Apr

The Virginia Journal of International Law is pleased to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris in this third online symposium. This week’s symposium will feature three articles recently published in Vol. 48-3 of VJIL, available here . Our discussion on Tuesday will focus on the mysterious history of Alexander Nahum Sack, the Russian-born legal scholar whose once obscure theory of...

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13 Apr

Naomi Norberg has a fascinating post today at IntLawGrrls about the legal treatment of modern-day pirates. I just want to point readers to a recent article in The Sunday Times about British fears that captured pirates could ask for asylum in the UK:The Royal Navy, once the scourge of brigands on the high seas, has been told by the...

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12 Apr

After Medellin—which calls into question whether treaties have the status of law—I’ll be curious whether the folks at Schoolhouse Rock decide to produce a variation on the old classic cartoon, “I’m Just a Bill.” Here are some possible lyrics for a new cartoon entitled, “I’m Just a Treaty”: You sure have to climb a lot of steps to get to...

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11 Apr

There are many topics that come to mind from yesterday's ASIL program, but the biggest takeaway for me came from the annual meeting with the passing of the torch from José Alvarez to Lucy Reed. The strength of any learned society depends on its leadership and Alvarez has done an exceptional job as ASIL President. His President's columns...

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