Yesterday the New York Times had a lengthy, fawning obituary of William Sloane Coffin. Coffin was an historic figure who had his share of shining moments (1961 Freedom Rider) and controversial anti-war tactics (1967 draft dodging demonstrations). While he was far too much of an establishment anti-establishmentarian for my taste, give him credit for being a minister...
The Rwandan government has appointed a commission to investigate France's role in the country's 1994 genocide. The commission, which is slated to begin work on April 16th, includes Jean de Dieu Mucyo, Rwanda's Prosecutor General and a genocide survior, as well as Brigadier General Jerome Ngendahimana, a senior officer in the Rwanda Armed Forces (FAR) during the genocide. The...
Liberal Oasis has an enlightening post about the warm relationship between the Bush administration and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea — a relationship that can only be explained by the U.S.'s interest in the country's plentiful oil reserves, given its equally plentiful political repression (emphasis in the original): Yesterday, Condi Rice stood next to Equatorial Guinea President...
In yet another interesting twist on the role of the WTO to address volatile political issues, the House of Representatives last week passed a resolution calling on Saudi Arabia to live up to its WTO commitments by ending the economic boycott of Israel. H. Con. Res. 370 provides: That it is the sense of the Congress that--(1) Saudi Arabia...
Two environmental stories worth noting: The High Court of Nigeria has ordered Shell to stop gas flaring in Delta State by 2007. The order follows an earlier decision by the High Court -- ignored by Shell, which has said that it intends to continue the practice until 2009 -- that gas flaring violates Nigerians' constitutional rights to life and dignity....
So Iran is now a member of the nuclear club. What are the ramifications of this momentous news? I do not feel competent to discuss this subject in detail, but fortunately top nuclear experts met at a Council on Foreign Relations' meeting in New York last week to discuss Iran's nuclear development and production. Here is the transcript of...
The International Court of Justice, the "principal judicial organ of the United Nations", celebrates its sixtieth anniversary today with a solemn sitting at 2:30 GMT (about the time this post goes up). What is a "solemn sitting"? I am not really sure, but various dignitaries will attend, speeches will be made, and (hopefully) cake will be eaten. ...
Here is an amusing example of the type of legal drafting nearly unique to international lawyers: The delimitation shall extend from the junction of the line that is equidistant from the low water line of Barbados and from the nearest turning point of the archipelagic baselines of Trinidad and Tobago with the maritime zone of a third State that is to...
I want to thank Roger for posting on the Pineda case (see below). I agree with most of his analysis, but I want to jump in here with a brief addendum. I would go farther than Roger and call this decision a win-win-win-win for the Administration. The first holding of the court is exactly the position the administration has argued -...
The National Security Archive has uncovered a secret agreement between the National Archives and various military and intelligence agencies to conceal the reclassification of thousands of pages of declassified documents, some of which had been declassified for nearly 50 years: The National Archives and...
A federal district court in Washington D.C. last week ruled that an alleged Colombian terrorist is not a lawful combatant within the meaning of the Geneva Conventions. The case involved a criminal indictment filed against Junvenal Pineda (a.k.a. Simon Trinidad) for conspiracy to commit hostage taking, hostage taking, aiding and abetting and causing an act to be done, and material...
I’ve been coming to terms lately with the fact that I’m obsessed with treaties. Now, to some, this might be a strange subject for an obsession, but I really do like treaties – I like to read newly negotiated treaties; I like to debate who can make treaties, not to mention my interest in comparing how different states interpret...
