Douglas Burgess, Jr., has an editorial in today's New York Times arguing that piracy should be considered terrorism in order to facilitate its prosecution. It's an interesting piece, but I have to take issue with the basic premise of his argument: Are pirates a species of terrorist? In short, yes. The same definition of pirates as hostis humani generis could also...
John Fonte had this piece in the National Review just before the election on the Obama's likely posture to international law and international institutions. It very perceptively and succinctly describes the difference between liberal internationalists (think just about everybody before Bush, with the US looking to lead the rest of the world to enlightenment, along with anyone associated with the...
Plaintiffs will apparently appeal yesterday's jury verdict in the Chevron ATS case. In the meantime, as we contemplate a new Administration, it's worth considering, how, if at all, USG views will shift with respect to litigation under the Alien Tort Claims Act (a.k.a. the Alien Tort Statute (ATS)). Although he offered his views in full advocacy mode for...
Chevron wins a big Alien Tort Statute verdict in a case involving its alleged complicity in killings by Nigerian security forces. This is no doubt an important case (though probably not as important at Andrew McCarthy thinks it is -- see "Sovereignty, Vindicated" over at NRO). On the heels of a lower-profile case last year involving Drummond that...
Georgetown Security Law Brief blog has a super-useful roundup of what a wide variety of people have said about what to do about detainees at Guantanamo. It goes backwards by date, with op eds, articles, blog posts, all sorts of stuff, including stuff from here at OJ. If you want to know what the state of discussion is as of...
Well, not really Stendhal on Thanksgiving. Stendhal never visited the United States, but that did not inhibit him from expressing a great many opinions about the place (mostly negative observations in the 'nation of shopkeepers' vein), particularly in the entire chapter devoted to love in the United States in that curious book-length essay, On Love. Stendhal was highly skeptical...
Further to Chris's post below, I wanted to announce that Complex Terrain Lab will be hosting, in addition to the event just passed that Chris mentions, an online blog discussion of Antoine Bosquet's The Scientific Way of Warfare, between Friday, December 5 and Monday, December 8. It will feature a number of guest bloggers, including me, and, having read most...
I will be spending most of the next two months in Europe, with the following itinerary: Vienna, December 7-17 Leuven, December 17-20 Vienna, December 20-26 Rome, December 26-January 1 Amsterdam/The Hague, January 1-February 1 If any OJ readers in those cities -- students, academics, activists, etc. -- would like to meet for coffee or a drink, please don't hesitate to contact me: k.heller@auckland.ac.nz....
I take Deborah's point in our conversation below on the administrative detention point, and think she is probably being a little bit nicer to me than I deserve in suggesting that I am running together two things - law and policy. Fair point, and although I might return to it sometime next year (if I can persuade myself to assign...
For the last few weeks, popular culture has become reacquainted with the less romantic side of piracy. (For the romantic side, picture my 2 year old running around my living room -- yes, this Thanksgiving morning -- dressed with eye patch, bandana, "puffy pants" and a plastic sword yelling "arrgh" at the top of his lungs.) But, with seizures of...
Thanks Ken. Let me try to clarify again. On one level, you’re quite right: many human rights advocates believe a new system of administrative detention – beyond the criminal law and beyond the Geneva regime – is not a good idea as a matter of policy. (I hasten to add many who are not human rights advocates think...
With apologies for arriving late to the helpful Hakimi-Waxman-Anderson exchange, I thought it worth noting the apparent consensus on at least one position I, too, share: there is no categorical international law prohibition on “administrative” (or otherwise non-criminal) detention. Indeed, at risk of repeating myself, I’m not sure I could name a human rights or humanitarian law scholar I...
