Judge Thomas Buergenthal has recently published a memoir of his life as a child surviving Auschwitz. The book was originally published in German (where it was a bestseller) and is now out in English. The book, A Lucky Child, is absolutely wonderful and inspiring. He describes in wonderful detail his slow, painful descent into the hell of...
Eugene Kontorovich, well known to OJ readers for his work on piracy and universal jurisdiction (both separately and together), has a very interesting post partly responding to discussion here at OJ on universal jurisdiction and proposed legislation on Spain on universal jurisdiction. It is up over at Prawfsblawg and is a fun, quick read. Also, here is Eric Posner's comment,...
I just wanted to pass along something I had found recently: Newseum has an interactive map that allows you to see that day's front pages from various papers from around the world. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, you can't enlarge the pages (although you can zoom-in on the map), so by-and-large only the headlines are readable. Nonetheless, this does allow you...
Now that she has the Jeff Rosen seal of approval, the safe money is on Diane Wood to fill David Souter's seat on the Supreme Court. Most of us IL types will know that Judge Wood has some strong interests in the area (she has been on the board of editors of the AJIL), but in my case at least it's...
Details here. Assuming that we're talking foot soldiers, this seems a pretty thin argument for keeping the rest under wraps, even through a cost-benefit/national interests optic. The equation: How much does keeping Gitmo up and running hurt US interests v. how much damage can released detainees cause if they return to the battlefield. I'm betting that for all but the very few high-level detainees,...
A while back, a commentator (aptly named Irritated) complained about my use of acronyms in a post on treaty priorities of the Obama Administration. I understand the frustration of the uninitiated. That said, the reality is a facility with acronyms appears to have become part of the job description for international lawyers. I have no idea when or how this phenomenon...
Seed Magazine has an interesting roundtable discussion about whether or not conflicts over fresh water are a significant threat to international stability (and whether water shortages are even a cause of war). The introduction to the discussion notes the case being made that water shortages have been and will increasigly be a source of violent conflict: In 2007 an 18-month study of...
Interesting interview at CFR.org on public diplomacy and the use of social networking with Elliot Schrage, formerly of Google, now of Facebook (and author of a perceptive 2004 study on workplace codes of conduct). No surpise, the State Department has a Facebook page. Schrage has this to say about how governments should put these tools to work: The challenge is, how do...
The news (not yet officially announced) that former President Bill Clinton will be named a Special Representative of the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to Haiti is surely unprecedented. While ex-presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers have been called on in the past to serve as special envoys of the SecGen, I cannot recall an instance where the spouse of a...
There's no legal obstacle to appointing a dual citizen to the Supreme Court. In fact, in contrast to qualifications for Congress and the Presidency, the Constitution sets no citizenship requirements of any kind for justices of the Supreme Court. Now it's unlikely in the extreme that Obama will appoint a foreigner to the Court, although it would be an interesting little parlor game...
There’s already been a good bit of thoughtful (see Dave Glazier) and not so thoughtful commentary about the Obama Administration’s decision to revive the commissions. I admit, news of the continuation of the commissions (in some revised form) hardly filled me with joy. But I’ve also been sorry to see rhetoric that seems to paint it at the end...
Lately I have been doing extensive historical research on the development of international law and I came across this remarkable quote from the 1921 edition of Lassa Oppenheim's International Law: “A constant increase of population must in the end force upon a State the necessity of acquiring more territory, and if it cannot be acquired by peaceable means, acquisition by conquest...
