We’re pleased this week to host a discussion of Ruti Teitel's new book, Humanity's Law, just out from Oxford University Press. Ruti is Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law at New York Law School, where she directs the Institute for Global Law, Justice, & Policy. She is also Visiting Professor, London School of Economics. The book is a major contribution...
The eurozone is on the verge of meltdown, taking whole economies and banking systems with it, and spreading to the US through the systemic interwiring of the international financial system. Or not. European meetings to avert disaster are coming unglued and the moment when the markets simply stop turning over debt and re-lending is finally at hand, with a tipping...
Opinio Juris learns with sadness of the passing of Judge Antonio Cassese, one of the pioneers of international criminal justice, following a long battle with cancer. If you like, leave any remembrances or tributes in the comments. For my part, I remember Judge Cassese most from the 1980s, at various international humanitarian law meetings, and then particularly around the time...
On Thursday evening I was on a panel at International Law Weekend on the evolving nature of sovereignty. Sean Murphy gave a presentation on how social networking technology may affect sovereignty, but also how "Twitter revolution" claims have been overblown. As it turns out, we are a few days away from a whole conference on this question, sponsored by (among...
As yesterday's killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is celebrated in Libya and around the world, we should take a moment to ponder what it means for the long quest to discover the truth about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. I write this from the perspective of a former State Department lawyer who had been assigned to the...
On Monday, October 24, I'll be participating in a panel discussion at NYU on the The Implications of Chevron v. Ecuador for Investor-State Arbitration. The event will be held at 6 p.m. at Furman Hall 900, 245 Sullivan Street, New York. The event is sponsored by NYU Law School's Institute for International Law and Justice. Topics will include: Do...
Interesting: Today FIDH and LDH filed a criminal complaint, together with an application to join the proceedings as a civil party against persons unknown before the Court in Paris concerning the responsibility of the company Amesys, a subsidiary of Bull, in relation to acts of torture perpetrated in Libya. This complaint concerns the provision, since 2007, of communication surveillance equipment to...
David Cortright, the policy director of the Kroc Institute for International PeaceStudies at Notre Dame has posted an article to CNN.com looking at the prospect of the wide-spread proliferation of drone warfare. He begins: Drone technology is spreading rapidly. As many as 50 countries are developing or purchasing these systems, including China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran. Even non-state actors are involved. Hezbollah reportedly...
Just a quick note on the news reports about the internal Obama Administration legal debate over the use of cyberattacks in the Libya conflict. These reports seem to confirm Stewart Baker's complaint that cyberwar capabilities are being shaped by legal concerns as much as, if not more than, policy goals. Two small observations: 1) Following David Fidler's point here, how is...
The United States has finally decided to seize Michael Jackson's glove. Not that it has anything against Michael Jackson. The owner of the glove, however, is another matter. Teodorin Nguema Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea's dictator, has a thing for Michael Jackson memorabilia. He also has a taste for other luxury items, such as Bentlys,...
