I don't get to the East Coast of the U.S. very often these days, so I thought I'd mention that I will be in Boston and DC next week, in case any Opinio Juris readers want to meet up. I will be giving a lecture on the Karadzic trial (with a bit of discussion afterward about the ICC and Libya)...
There has been a good deal of discussion both here between Kevin Heller and Cully Stimson and over at Lawfare by Jack Goldsmith, Gabor Rona and John Bellinger on the impact of the Administration's declaration on Additional Protocol I and it's possible effect on hearsay admissions in military commission hearings. While I agree with Jack and Kevin that it should not...
This from Gianluca Parolin in EUI's excellent EU Democracy Observatory on Citizenship on proposed changes to Egypt's constitution regarding presidential eligibility: The current text (albeit suspended) requires the candidate to be an Egyptian citizen born of Egyptian parents. The proposed text further requires the candidate and his (sic!) parents never to have acquired a foreign citizenship (thereby excluding...
Kristof had previously suggested that the U.S. should assure safe passage for Libyan defectors. But the officer’s story reminded me of an alternative, more economic, incentive deployed in Iraq, where the U.S. offered defecting officers cash to lay down their arms. As reported by Fred Kaplan inSlate in 2003: A fascinating piece in the May 19 Defense News quotes Gen.Tommy Franks, chief of U.S. Central Command, confirming what had until now been mere rumors picked up by dubious Arab media outlets—that, before Gulf War II began, U.S. special forces had gone in and bribed Iraqi generals not to fight. “I had letters from Iraqi generals saying, ‘I now work for you,’ ” Franks told Defense News reporter Vago Muradian in a May 10 interview. The article quotes a “senior official” as adding, “What is the effect you want? How much does a cruise missile cost? Between one and 2.5 million dollars. Well, a bribe is a PGM [precision-guided munition]—it achieves the aim, but it’s bloodless and there’s zero collateral damage.” A “Smart Bribe” can be a lot cheaper than a “Smart Bomb.” Gideon Parchomovsky and Peter Siegelman (friends and coauthors) have published a fascinating article detailing the pros and cons of bribing enemy combatants to switch sides.Ayres includes a chart from the Parchomovsky and Siegelman article that walks historically through instances of such bribes in wars in the past and the results; I’ll stick it below the fold, but you can get a more readable view at Ayres’ original post.
I have some views, but they are not entirely solidified, so let me put this out as a question. France has recognized the the rebels as the sole legitimate representatives of the Libyan people, and withdrawn its recognition of the Qaddafi government. If that is so, what, if any, are the international law consequences of that recognition? I understand that many...
Although I support the Security Council referral of the Libya situation to the ICC, I do not have any degree of confidence that the ICC referral has not altered Moammar Qaddafi's negotiating or fighting posture at this time. I have no idea whether Qaddafi's state of mind (if you can even refer to it in normal psychology terms) has or...
The Wall Street Journal reports that France "formally recognized Libya's main opposition group, the first country to do so." It is an excellent story and walks in brisk fashion through the latest moves in diplomacy and assessment of the military chances of the rebels. However, it is prudent at this point not to over-interpret the implications of this report about France. From...
I just received Anuradha Kumar's book "Human Rights: Global Perspectives" from interlibrary loan. Perhaps they should increase the salary for book binders. [caption id="attachment_15191" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption=""][/caption] ...
"Is Syria the next domino?" That's an official source asking, the State Department's e-diplomacy unit, tweeting under the somewhat awkward handle eDipAtState. Tweets from eDipAtState run the gamut, mostly re-tweets from other sources, but they suggestively tilt towards the next freedom fight. Iran, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Belarus -- these are places were the US is on record as supporting change. But...
The UN has just released its comments on the ILC’s set of 66 Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations (“RIO”) as document A/CN.4/637/Add.1 (available on the ILC website). The commentary is interesting both for what it says and what it doesn’t say. It should be noted that the comments take a more conciliatory view of the ILC’s enterprise than a number...
Having just read through the new order quickly, a few thoughts. First, as had been long rumored, the order essentially sets up a periodic review system for the Guantanamo detainees. The review system is discretionary in nature, but appears designed to supplement the already existing and fairly robust review available to Gitmo detainees through the federal courts since...
Opinio juris meaning the legal concept, not the blog. The "Fact Sheet" (linked here to Lawfare) that went out with the new executive order on Guantanamo detainees that Deborah notes below has a final section on international law principles. The points it makes are not related expressly to Guantanamo or detainees there, but about the broader context of laws of...
