In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

07 Jul

As widely reported, in Moscow yesterday President Obama and Russian President Medvedev signed a Joint Understanding for the Start Follow-on Treaty. Here's how the White House fact sheet describes it: On April 1, Presidents Obama and Medvedev agreed in London that America and Russian negotiators would begin work on a new, comprehensive, legally binding agreement on reducing and limiting strategic offensive...

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06 Jul

For those of you who aren't F1 racing fans -- which I hope is all of you -- you might have missed the charming comments about Hitler that were recently offered by Bernie Ecclestone, the head of the league: In an interview with London's The Times newspaper, Ecclestone expressed a preference for "strong leaders," citing former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher...

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06 Jul

The National Research Council of the National Academies has just about finalized a lengthy report on cyberattacks--Technology, Policy, Law, and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities.  William A. Owens, Kenneth W. Dam, and Herbert S. Lin edited the study on behalf of a 14 member committee and a 5 member staff.  It should be available in hard...

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06 Jul

ABC reports that President Obama is considering the temporary use of executive agreements to create a news arms control treaty with Russia this winter. MOSCOW -- With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty...

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06 Jul

I have ignored Obama's refusal to take concrete steps to end formal discrimination against gays and lesbians, because it's not really the subject of this blog.  But I have followed his gradual abandonment of his campaign promise to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" with increasing concern.  It seems clear that he has no real stomach for taking on the military...

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05 Jul

Botswana has refused to go along with the AU resolution that -- in theory -- guarantees Bashir safe travel around Africa: Botswana says it will not abide by an African Union (AU) decision to ignore an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir. Countries signed up to the ICC have a duty to help arrest...

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04 Jul

to those celebrating it.  (Not everyone at OJ rains on the July 4 parade!)  For those in DC, in addition to the usual stuff, you might check out the historical reenactment of Frederick Douglass's July 5 speech, as Randy Barnett notes, at its historic site in Anacostia (Professor Barnett has a very interesting discussion and commentary on the speech at...

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04 Jul

As happens every July 5th, tomorrow’s newspapers will carry reports of attractively diverse groups of immigrants naturalizing as U.S. citizens in uplifting ceremonies, flags waving, with predictable but heartfelt welcomes from judges and elected officials. This Independence Day ritual is perhaps the only public relations play of the federal government’s immigration agencies that seems to work. It bears out all...

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04 Jul

I don't know quite what to make of this story from the AP of July 3, 2009: African leaders approve anti-ICC move By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU – 9 hours ago SIRTE, Libya (AP) — African leaders have approved a contentious decision to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. The final decision by the African Union heads of state...

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03 Jul

The Economist has a short article discussing EU proposals for financial regulation reform, in the July 4, 2009 issue, "Divided by a Common Market."  The article is not persuaded that EU regulatory reforms, divided on at least two fundamental matters, will get very far, very soon: The EU remains riven by two deep divides on the regulation of finance. The first is...

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03 Jul

Thomas Barnett has pointed out a map in Business Week that is coded for the sovereign bond rating of each country (the map is a click-through from this page).  What Barnett calls the "Old Core" (the U.S.,  Canada, western Europe, etc.) tend to have the highest ratings, the "New Core" (Brazil, Russia, India, China and other rising powers) have the...

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