I think the beer — more sought after than the Ranfurly Shield — is mine:The last pre-election loophole through which John Bolton's confirmation might have snuck through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was at 2:15 this afternoon at a previously called "business meeting" of the Committee. That meeting has been cancelled — and with it even the dimmest chance of John...
Sometimes pictures are indeed worth a thousand words. Here are the most recent covers of Newsweek sold in Europe, Latin America, Asia — and the U.S.: And we wonder why 43% of Americans still believe Saddam is personally responsible for 9/11? Hat-Tip: Michael Froomkin at Discourse.net ...
Luis Posada Carriles, the anti-Castro Cuban terrorist who blew up a commercial airplane in 1976 that carried 73 innocent people, is inching ever closer to being released from federal detention. On September 11, U.S. Magistrate Norbert Garney, who earlier ruled that Posada could not be extradited to Cuba or Venezuela because of the possibility he would be tortured, recommended...
Who wins the bet if this happens? Do Julian and I have to buy each other a beer? Steve Clemons has the latest on the Bolton nomination:So far, there has been no sign that the Bush administration's considerable efforts to get Ambassador John Bolton confirmed are yielding any success in changing the environment currently blocking him. But the White...
Here's my definition of a very bad week — first you're arrested on suspicion of genocide, then you lose your job:The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday cancelled the contract of a member of the defence council, Callixte Gakwaya, after being suspected of committing genocide. The case of Gakwaya had recently caused tension in relations between the regime in...
My thanks to Peter for the kind words about my new essay "The Rhetoric of Necessity (Or, Sanford Levinson's Pinteresque Conversation)." If anyone is interested in taking a look at it, it is available on SSRN here. ...
In an interesting counterpoint to all the controversy over the Pope's recent remarks about Islam, a group of European Church leaders recently went to Africa to apologize for slavery and colonialism: A delegation of European church leaders, recently in Harare, has publicly apologized to Zimbabweans and Africans for the historical wrongs of colonization and slavery. At a prayer conference in Harare...
One of our readers defends Yoo’s inconsistent positions on FISA and the War Powers Act by arguing that the secrecy of the NSA program prevented Bush from defending his decision to ignore FISA, whereas no such secrecy concerns prevented Clinton from defending his decision to ignore the War Powers Act. There are two problems with that argument. First, there is no...
I stand behind my description of Yoo, but Julian’s thoughtful post deserves a less facile response. So let’s consider Yoo’s claim about Clinton’s violation of the War Powers Act. Here is Julian’s explanation of why Yoo’s attack on Clinton is not inconsistent with his defense of Bush: His complaint about Clinton's violation of the War Powers Act is that...
They've been receiving considerable attention in the progressive blogosphere, but these quotes from John Yoo, circa 2000, are worth repeating for anyone who still doubts that he is nothing more than a shameless and unprincipled apologist for the Bush administration:First, I think, in order to achieve their foreign policy goals, the Clinton Adminisitration has undermined the balance of powers that...
The Sunday Times (UK) reports today on efforts by one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers, BAE, to develop a new generation of "green" weapons that minimize environmental harm. The company's efforts include: Bullets with lower lead content because, as the company states on its website, “lead used in ammunition can harm the environment and pose a risk to...
You have to appreciate the sophisticated foreign-relations analysis provided by American TV news. Here's how Brian Williams opened the NBC Nightly News last night:Good evening from Havana, Cuba, the host city for what is called the Summit of Non-Aligned Nations--in short, all of the enemies of the United States, really, gathered in one room.The Non-Aligned Movement includes, of course,...
