December 2, 2008 The Lawprof Threat to Good Government
Peter Raven-Hansen has a review of Jack Goldsmith's The Terror Presidency in the latest American Journal of International Law which includes some thoughts on law professors as top government lawyers. His basic line, with John Yoo as the example: better not to use a perch in the government to validate your academic theories.
December 1, 2008 Kenya and the ICC
Violence in Kenya following the disputed 2007 elections left more than 1,300 people dead and more than 500,000 internally displaced. Last month, Kenya's Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence released a 527-page report -- the Waki Report -- that concluded much of the violence was planned and organized by members of Kenya's security agencies, business leaders, politicians, and government officials.
November 30, 2008 Nigeria's Slow Motion Civil War, International Law, and Multifaceted Conflicts
While the attention of the international news is fixed on the Mumbai attacks, I just want to pause to note that there is a growing tide of sectarian violence in Nigeria, which has claimed another 300 lives in the past few days. The strife in Nigeria provides a window into the types of complex ongoing conflicts that combine ethnic tensions, religious disputes, and resource grabs.
November 28, 2008 Professor Martin Scheinin Responds to Ken re Administrative Detention
(Professor Martin Scheinin, whose mission and report on the US and counterterrorism and human rights I discussed below, was kind enough to post a substantive response to my earlier post, "Try or Release. " Particularly since I was quite critical of that report, let me move Professor's Scheinin's response up to its own post.