I have been ignoring the latest salvos in David Bernstein's lonely war against Human Rights Watch, because they have not purported to be anything other than character assassination. But his latest effort to discredit Marc Garlasco, HRW's Senior Military Analyst, is so beyond the pale of acceptable discourse that something needs to be said. Here are the relevant paragraphs of...
The Ninth Circuit last week argued that it did not have personal jurisdiction over DaimlerChrysler Corporation AG because it did not have continuous and systematic contacts with the forum. The case of Bauman v. DaimlerChrysler AG arose out of the alleged kidnapping, detention and torture of Argentinian citizens in Argentina by Argentinian state security forces acting at the direction...
[caption id="attachment_9642" align="alignright" width="137" caption=""][/caption] So what resulted from the past few days of G-20 meetings of finance ministers? And, particularly given the long-term conversation here at OJ about transnational networks and global governance, do the meetings offer any data point in that discussion? The principal policy debates at the G-20 meetings were over bonus/compensation issues for bankers (pressed hard by the...
Rachel Irwin of IWPR has published a typically excellent article on the role of victims in Lubanga. (The article quotes me liberally, though, so you shouldn't take my word for that.) A taste: A total of 99 victims represented by seven lawyers are participating in the Lubanga trial at the International Criminal Court, ICC. The lawyers are present in the courtroom...
It's not unusual, I gather (never having worked in government), for the CIA to ask DOJ prosecutors to investigate leaks involving the agency. However, in the circumstances surrounding the current AG Holder decision to appoint a prosecutor to investigate CIA activities, it's perhaps worth noting that the CIA has asked for an investigation into what it apparently regards as a...
David Bernstein and I agree about one thing: Pat Buchanan is a very stupid man. But if Hitler was out to conquer the world — Britain, Africa, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, South America, India, Asia, Australia — why did he spend three years building that hugely expensive Siegfried Line to protect Germany from France? Why did he start...
The blog Making Sense of Darfur has been hosting a symposium on Adam M. Smith's book After Genocide: Bringing the Devil to Justice, in which the author argues -- oversimplifying only slightly -- that international criminal trials are always inferior to domestic trials and non-punitive accountability mechanisms. I have neither the time nor the inclination to address the book's claims...
Dear Mr. Prime Minister: I noted with interest your recent statement that you believe an international criminal court should be created to prosecute individuals whom you believe have committed crimes against Iraqis. As reported by Xinhua: The Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday demanded again for the United Nations to form a criminal court to prosecute those involved in the killing...
Following-up on my recent post, I see that the Wall Street Journal reports that President Qaddafi no longer plans to stay in a large tent on the grounds of a home owned by the Libyan government in Englewood, NJ, during the opening of the UN General Assembly this fall. No specific reason is being given for the change, although diplomatic negotiations...
My favorite part of the Wall Street Journal's article on ATS litigation, discussed by Ken below, has to be this comment by the lawyer who defends such lawsuits: In assessing liability, a key question can be whether companies assisted a foreign government that was known to violate human rights, says Joe Cyr, a New York lawyer who defends companies against alien...
The WSJ has a news story (Nathan Koppel, "Arcane Law Brings Conflicts From Overseas to U.S. Courts," Thursday, August 27, 2009) on the rise of ATS suits against corporate defendants. It quotes Curt Bradley, but interestingly (I thought, for an area traditionally dominated by academics), it has more quotes from practicing lawyers, including John Bellinger, Center for Constitutional Rights's Katherine Gallagher,...
The local news in New York and New Jersey is abuzz this morning with unconfirmed rumors that, for the opening of this year's UN General Assembly, Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi is planning to stay in an air-conditioned "Bedouin-style" tent on the grounds of a residence owned by the Libyan government in Englewood, New Jersey, a suburban town of 30,000. According...
