From a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal: "[F]or some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror." The mind reels....
Germany has sued Italy before the ICJ challenging successful Italian lawsuits that have denied Germany's sovereign immunity arising out of World War II forced labor claims. The ICJ press release is here. Here is Germany's key argument: “In recent years, Italian judicial bodies have repeatedly disregarded the jurisdictional immunity of Germany as a sovereign State. The critical...
As I have mentioned before, France and the UK have expressed their willingness to support deferring the ICC's investigation of Bashir if the Sudan prosecutes Ahmed Haroun and Ali Kushayb domestically. It doesn't look like the Sudan is going to take them up on their offer: [Ali Karti, the State Minister at Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs] reiterated the ability of...
With Samuel Huntington's passing on December 24th, I thought I'd post something on his "clash of civilizations" theory. Then I came across the following couple of posts from Strange Maps that not only relate to Huntington's interests, but are quite interesting in their own right. They illustrate the ongoing interrelation of geography, culture, and historical boundaries on modern domestic and...
The Jordanian Bar Association (JBA) is on a roll. In addition to participating in the seminar I discussed in my last post, the JBA has also asked the Jordanian government -- Jordan is one of three Arab states that have ratified the Rome Statute -- to formally request the ICC's Assembly of States Parties (ASP) remove Moreno-Ocampo from office because...
The Baron could not produce epigrams; he required at least four sentences of six lines each to be brilliant. (The Red and the Black, part II, chapter 34, "The Hotel de La Mole." Sometimes, alas, I fear this is me.)...
I know, fisking pro-Bashir propaganda is kind of a pointless task, but the article made me mad with its shameless inaccuracy. It's unfortunate that so many Arab readers -- the original article was published in the Al Rai Jordanian Daily -- are exposed to this kind of garbage concerning the ICC and Darfur. Without further ado, the fisking...
The blogosphere is all atwitter with news that the CIA has been using Viagra to bribe Afghan chieftains into revealing information about the Taliban. I was going to point out that, however successful the erections-for-info exchange might be, it is worth wondering to what extent the practice facilitates rape, marital and otherwise. But it appears Cara at Feministe has beaten...
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Dan Drezner, a political scientist at Tufts and well known public intellectual aka blogger, has a short column at The National Interest from early December asking why it is that so many of the important foreign policy jobs in the Obama administration are going to lawyers, rather than to public policy or foreign affairs school graduates. Dan starts with Dani...
The Wall Street Journal has a front page news story today that will not surprise anyone who follows the daily life of the United Nations - Andrew Higgins and Steve Stecklow, "U.N. Push to Stem Misconduct Flounders," WSJ, December 26, 2008, A1. It seems to be behind the subscriber wall (maybe not), but anyway here is a bit: An American-backed drive...
To all OJ readers, Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it, and the loveliest holidays and best wishes to everyone everywhere. Peace and goodwill on earth, and may you and your families and loved ones look forward to a good new year. I know I speak for everyone at OJ in saying that we are honored to have...
