This is a wonderful opportunity to bring Islamic law into the legal debate in the United States beyond the superficial level at which it usually takes place. This is the more welcome for someone who has written a book on Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr as the most creative Islamic thinker of the 20th century (The Renewal of Islamic Law, Cambridge 1993),...
First, an obligatory and entirely deserved thanks to Chris Ripple and the editors of the Virginia Journal of International Law for giving me an opportunity to discuss my work on this blog, and to Chibli Mallat, the premier Sadr scholar of our time, for agreeing to comment thereon. Sadr’s work Iqtisaduna is so multifaceted and complex that any depiction of...
The Virginia Journal of International Law is pleased to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris in this second online symposium. This week, we will be featuring two articles and one essay just published by VJIL in Vol. 48-2, available here. Thank you to the moderators of Opinio Juris for making available this great forum for discussion. On Tuesday, Haider...
In the tortured debates about torture, one rarely hears something new. But last week I was having a wonderful discussion with some prominent international law thinkers and one of them said something quite thought-provoking that I had never heard before. “If you think torture is wrong then you should also conclude that humanitarian intervention is wrong. ...
My time as a guest blogger with Opinio Juris comes to an end today. I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to post here, and to enter into discussions with the commenters. It therefore only remains for me to give my sincere thanks to the regular contributors for inviting me, and to the many commenters for their remarks, additions and corrections...
Iraq has redesigned its Saddam-era flag. (The new flag is at left.) Unfortunately, it's already been rejected by both the Sunni Anbar Awakening Council and by the Kurds:"The new flag is done for a foreign agenda and we won't raise it," said Ali Hatem al Suleiman, a leading member of the U.S.-backed Anbar Awakening Council, "If they want...
I've fallen behind in my Rwanda blogging. Here are some of the recent highlights — or lowlights, depending on your perspective:The ICTR announced that it will miss its 2008 deadline for completing its trial phase. According to the Tribunal's spokesman, at least one trial will not be finished by the end of the year. The ICTR...
5 + 10 = X X – Y = 0 if Y = 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 5 + 10 = X X – Z = X/192 if Z = 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15 What is X, Y, and Z where Y = Z? (Continue Reading for the Answer) Y = Permanent Members of the Security...
Here you go. The idea: everything you need to know about really big issues in two pages or less (charts included). Say you are the CEO of Sara Lee or something and find yourself among the great minds of Davos, your KnowledgeConcierge (space intentionally omitted) will bring you up to speed so that you can take it all in....
For my last post here at Opinio Juris, I propose to tap into what knowledge I have of my home jurisdiction, Germany, on an issue common to US and German law. (No apologies here for the use of comparative material in constitutional interpretation.) That issue is in the context of the domestic effect of international treaties, and more particularly in the...
A flurry of attention to the question of what form an agreement with Iraq would take in the wake of hearings yesterday before the House International Relations Committee: an unusually thorough segment on NPR, WaPo story here. Apparently the Administration is intent on pursuing this as a sole executive agreement, on the precedent of Status of Forces Agreements adopted...
For much of the last year, I've been thinking about whether existing international humanitarian law rules are up to the task of dealing with issues of cyberwar and cyberterror, or, to use the U.S. military terminology--information operations (IO). In addition to an Op-Ed and a short piece for a military audience, I've now posted on SSRN a more detailed...
