Recent Yale Law School grad and proto-law professor Ariel Lavinbuk has a useful piece in Slate reviewing the still ongoing constitutional challenge to the Chapter 19 NAFTA dispute resolution process. The constitutional issue is a good one, but I was under the impression that the recent settlement of the lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada would require the...
For those who have not done so already, it’s time to readjust the ICJ’s win/loss column when it comes to state compliance with the World Court’s decisions. In 1994, Cameroon sued Nigeria over the land and maritime boundary between the two nation states. In particular, Cameroon claimed sovereignty over the Bakassi peninsula, an area rich in fisheries and...
Each year, pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Department of State submits to Congress a report on countries' efforts to eliminate human trafficking. The report divides countries into three tiers, with Tier 1 including countries that have made significant efforts to comply with U.S. law's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons, and Tier 3 including...
Shadi Hamid at Democracy Arsenal has a nuanced take on the "winners and losers" of the fighting in Lebanon and Israel. Well worth the read. ...
What a difference a year makes. Lionel Beehner at the Council on Foreign Relations has some interesting thoughts on the one-year anniversary of the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "One year later, President Ahmadinejad has emerged as one of the world's leading anti-American voices. His rhetoric has inflamed an already tense Middle East and empowered the region's Shiites...
This report from the Bahrain News Agency doesn't bode well -- especially the highlighted clause:Tehran, Aug. 13, (BNA) Iranian Oil Minister, Khadim Waziri and his Iraqi counterpart, Hossein Shahrastani, signed here on Sunday a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the oil field. Iran News Agency (IRNA) said the Mou stipulated that Iran should supply Iraq with kerosene and liquefied...
One of the most interesting aspects of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 is what it might mean for the future of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. There are several provisions of U.N. Resolution 1701 that I find of particular importance as they relate to the future of Hezbollah: The Security Council ...
Courtesy of Arms & Influence, here is the actual Powerpoint slide created by Joint Task Force IV to depict the political outcome that was supposed to result from the invasion of Iraq: Apparently, Powerpoint presentations were the norm during the Defense Department's "planning" for the Iraq war. From Thomas Ricks' new book, Fiasco:[Army Lt. General David] McKiernan had another, smaller...
Some interesting developments at the international tribunals over the past few weeks: Most notably, Saddam Hussein has asked the ICC to investigate his alleged mistreatment by the U.S. while incarcerated during trial. Whatever the substantive merits of the allegations, the ICC has no jursidiction to investigation them, because neither Iraq nor the U.S. has ratified the Rome Statute. The...
The new UN Human Rights Council is holding an emergency session today in Geneva. The agenda: A resolution condemning Israeli actions in the current war between Israel and Hezbollah. This is supposed to be the new and improved Human Rights Council, the one that will take seriously its charge to address human rights violations everywhere. Yet, since...
This post by Suzanne Nossel and David Greenberg at Democracy Arsenal is a pretty accurate take on what Senator Joe Lieberman's defeat to Ned Lamont in Tuesday's primary means for the national security strategy of the Democratic party. Neither the "security-minded" liberals — who fear that Lieberman's defeat represents proof the party has been captured by the isolationist left...
From the BBC: They planned to detonate liquid explosives on up to 10 planes. They would have smuggled it on board hidden in drinks, electronic devices and other "common objects". At UK airports on Thursday - with the country on its highest terror alert of "critical" - bottles of water were taken from passengers and mothers asked to taste their...
