The case of Diallo v. Maryland presents a tragic story of a diplomat father and his prodigal son. In October 2006, David Reeves left a party in suburban Baltimore looking for drugs. He approached Abdel Diallo and asked if he had drugs for sale. Diallo said no. Reeves became angry and aggressive, and a struggle ensued. Both Diallo...
Coming Anarchy has pointed out this article from The Daily Telegraph about the increasing calls for Flanders to secede from Belgium and how this may be aided by the rise of the EU. Before getting to the main issue, I just have to note the snarky opening from the article: The notion that breaking up a country as insignificant as Belgium could lead to anything more...
As widely reported, in Moscow yesterday President Obama and Russian President Medvedev signed a Joint Understanding for the Start Follow-on Treaty. Here's how the White House fact sheet describes it: On April 1, Presidents Obama and Medvedev agreed in London that America and Russian negotiators would begin work on a new, comprehensive, legally binding agreement on reducing and limiting strategic offensive...
For those of you who aren't F1 racing fans -- which I hope is all of you -- you might have missed the charming comments about Hitler that were recently offered by Bernie Ecclestone, the head of the league: In an interview with London's The Times newspaper, Ecclestone expressed a preference for "strong leaders," citing former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher...
The National Research Council of the National Academies has just about finalized a lengthy report on cyberattacks--Technology, Policy, Law, and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities. William A. Owens, Kenneth W. Dam, and Herbert S. Lin edited the study on behalf of a 14 member committee and a 5 member staff. It should be available in hard...
I have ignored Obama's refusal to take concrete steps to end formal discrimination against gays and lesbians, because it's not really the subject of this blog. But I have followed his gradual abandonment of his campaign promise to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" with increasing concern. It seems clear that he has no real stomach for taking on the military...
Botswana has refused to go along with the AU resolution that -- in theory -- guarantees Bashir safe travel around Africa: Botswana says it will not abide by an African Union (AU) decision to ignore an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir. Countries signed up to the ICC have a duty to help arrest...
The Economist has a short article discussing EU proposals for financial regulation reform, in the July 4, 2009 issue, "Divided by a Common Market." The article is not persuaded that EU regulatory reforms, divided on at least two fundamental matters, will get very far, very soon: The EU remains riven by two deep divides on the regulation of finance. The first is...
Thomas Barnett has pointed out a map in Business Week that is coded for the sovereign bond rating of each country (the map is a click-through from this page). What Barnett calls the "Old Core" (the U.S., Canada, western Europe, etc.) tend to have the highest ratings, the "New Core" (Brazil, Russia, India, China and other rising powers) have the...
That's the question underlying my new essay, The Rise of International Criminal Law: Intended and Unintended Consequences, in the European Journal of International Law (Vol. 20, No. 2, June 2009). And I'm very curious as to whether anyone else shares my general feeling that the very success, on important metrics, of international criminal law is tending to swallow, as it...
I expect sloppy reporting from the traditional media, but not from the normally excellent FP Passport. So I was surprised to read the following in a post by Michael Wilkerson implying that the ICC has accomplished almost nothing: But with so much scorn and a suspect arrested for only one of its outstanding warrants -- former Congo rebel commander Jean-Pierre...
Robert Petit, the International Co-Prosecutor, is resigning effective September 1: In a statement, Robert Petit said he would be stepping down as of 1 September for personal and family reasons. “It has been the greatest privilege of my career to have the opportunity to bring some justice to the victims of the crimes of the Khmer Rouge,” he said. “I remain convinced...
