Just when you thought the global financial crisis was subsiding, with returns to growth in most leading economies, including the US, Europe, China, etc., we have a counter-indicator. The Financial Times reports today that McDonald's is closing its three outlets in Iceland, citing the difficult economic environment: Iceland edged further towards the margins of the global economy on Monday whenMcDonald’s announced...
[caption id="attachment_10327" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Raquel Rolnik"][/caption] In a further display of the UN Human Rights Council's sense of how to efficiently allocate its limited resources, its "special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing" has decided to conduct her next investigation in the United States, and in New York City in particular. (h/t the Corner). I'm sure that New York housing...
An additional puzzle about the Alien Tort Statute is that there seems to be no satisfactory account, so far as I know, of the US government response to ATS cases. Sometimes the US government responds with a statement of interest; sometimes it does not. Even when it does offer a statement of interest, my anecdotal impression (if there was data collected,...
I just finished giving an interview about the Karadzic case to the BBC's World Today program. It was, to say the least, a shocking experience. I assumed that they wanted to ask about Dr. Karadzic's decision to boycott the beginning of the trial -- why he made it, what it means for the trial, etc. My bad! Instead, the first...
My colleague Trey Childress has a nice summary of the recent decision by a federal court in Florida in Osorio v. Dole Food Company to refuse to enforce a $97 million Nicaraguan judgment. Here's the key excerpt of the decision: “the evidence before the Court is that the judgment in this case did not arise out of proceedings that comported...
If I were to sit down and sketch out in a single sentence or two the current approaches ("theories" is way too strong for what I mean here) to corporate liability in the ATS, what would they be? I give it a shot as bullet points below; I welcome any additions, if you were trying to give a short but...
I have to admit, when I first heard about the Mbeki Panel, I was skeptical. I assumed that the Panel's report would be a typical apologia for the Sudanese government's crimes, criticizing the ICC and defending the African Union's promise not to surrender Bashir to the Court. It looks like I owe Mbeki an apology. The recommendation section of the report...
Yes, says John Bellinger in Thursday's Washington Post: While it has done important work, the tribunal has largely outlived its utility for both sides -- and the Obama administration could face a significant international legal challenge if the tribunal orders the United States to make large monetary payments to the Iranian government. . . . When it was set up under the...
From an email urging civil disobedience to the [communist] [fascist] [socialist] Obama administration: "The jews KNEW that they were the target of Hitler--this didn't happen over night, they had PLENTY of warning--and they didn't DO anything," Dietz wrote. "They went like sheep quietly to their slaughter--they did not fight." Dietz concluded: "WE NEED A REVOLUTION." I think someone needs to add Uprising...
Cross-posted at Balkinization Here follows a revised version of the blog I posted earlier today. It turns out the final version of the legislation that passed the House was largely untouched after all. The full text of the mammoth Defense Authorization Bill in which the military commissions legislation is included is available here; the military commissions provisions are found...
Following-up on my recent post on commercial space ventures, I note that Richard Bilder has a new article posted to SSRN: A Legal Regime for the Mining of Helium-3 on the Moon: U.S. Policy Options. I know that "helium-3" might sound like the name of some sci-fi show like "Deep Space 9," but it is really a great hope for...
I will remain agnostic until I can read the actual report, but a new article in the Sudan Tribune seems encouraging: The African Union (AU) panel that was tasked with balancing peace and accountability in Darfur has made an implicit endorsement of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutions despite unfavorable disposition to the issue by African leaders and also called for...
