I am going to be on lite-blogging status for a while, due to a pinched nerve and muscle tear caused - everyone please take careful note - not by my athletic and extreme sports lifestyle, but by bad ergonomic habits at the keyboard. Let me assure you, at this moment you do not want to be me. However, while spending my...
The U.S. and Europe have been vigorously insisting that Israel stop all "settlement growth," including "natural growth." There has been some question as to what those terms mean. In a June 16 press briefing, Sen. George Mitchell said that Israel must stop “natural growth” in settlements, and specified that he means “births” as well. Here is the State Department's transcript...
I would like to thank the Opinio Jurists for having me on board for this short blogging stint. I've previously written here about piracy and universal jurisdiction. There is something about the vestigial romance of piracy that makes people enjoy talking about it. It is a fun topic. This time around I'll be writing more about a topic that people certainly...
The case of Diallo v. Maryland presents a tragic story of a diplomat father and his prodigal son. In October 2006, David Reeves left a party in suburban Baltimore looking for drugs. He approached Abdel Diallo and asked if he had drugs for sale. Diallo said no. Reeves became angry and aggressive, and a struggle ensued. Both Diallo...
As Ken notes below in his birthday greetings, Opinio Juris is pleased to welcome back Professor Eugene Kontorovich, of Northwestern University Law School, as a guest blogger for the next week. Professor Kontorovich has done a lot of writing and thinking about legal and policy responses to piracy as well as a range of other private and public international law...
all of us here at OJ wish you a happy birthday! We're looking forward to reading your posts here, but hope you have a lovely birthday....
In the flower of his conversion, McNamara ended up supporting US participation in the ICC: I believe that the human race desperately needs an agreed-upon system of jurisprudence that tells us what conduct by political and military leaders is right and what is wrong, both in conflict within nations and in conflict across national borders. We need a clear code, internationally accepted,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
