Search: self-defense

Chris makes some very good points about the Bush Administration’s foreign policy “schizophrenia” and listing the nomination of Bolton as symptomatic of the problem. Not surprisingly, I disagree. I think this “schizoprenia” is actually a good thing. I do agree that there is some back-and-forth in the Bush Administration’s foreign policy recently, but I actually think this reflects an increasing sophistication rather than increasing confusion. Indeed, the main complaint up to now with the current administration has been that it has been way too consistent in the pursuit...

...unclassified secret sources that he was shown during an intelligence briefing with several U.S. officials. In its reaction on the 26th of June to the Defense request to hear Stolworthy from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence concerning the written statement, the PPS mentions that not all underlying sources could be seen anyways by the National Public Prosecutor for Counterterrorism, Intelligence and Security Services. For this reason, the PPS emphasizes that as a result of this deficiency in the evidence. “[the] court will have to take this into...

...reference check (para 33). The report also explained that experience, by itself, was not the most important criterion; rather, it was competency. How, the Committee asked, did the candidates “demonstrate certain behaviours/skills” not merely by virtue of their resume, but “within the strategic context in which the ICC is situated” (para 37)?  As Ambassador Sabine Nolke, the committee’s chair, later put it, “The fact that you’ve done something in the past doesn’t mean you’re the right person to do it again.” At the same time, the report is also refreshingly...

...some respects, this article seemed to me a direct expression of Walzer’s defense of the idea that a political community had obligations to its own members, including in matters of distribution and redistribution, that were more binding than those of general cosmopolitanism. The book is a defense of membership in a political community, a defense of the idea that certain things can morally extend to members and not to non-members, and, I suppose, it is much of what Peter does not accept. Human rights are often invoked today in defense...

[Sari Bashi is Executive Director at Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.] This is the second post of our Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation. Earlier posts can be found in the Related Links at the end of this post. I am grateful to Opinio Juris for hosting this symposium in its best tradition of fostering robust debate on cutting-edge issues in international law and to Aeyal Gross for providing the theoretical framework for understanding Israel’s obligations in Gaza. As the director...

...which he says there is a risk of the case going to trial without the defense obtaining all “potentially exculpatory evidence.” ”In my view,” he wrote, “evidence we have an obligation as prosecutors and officers of the court has not been made available to the defense.” Vandeveld also wrote that he has come to accept certain facts that could favor the defense in the case, so he asked to quit the prosecutor’s office and serve out his reserve duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. He wrote that Jawad was captured at...

...the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa too concurred with this approach, noting that allowing immunity to prevent arrest in such situations “would create an intolerable anomaly”. Highlighting the irony that Kenya’s government disregard of its international obligations in inviting al-Bashir to the inauguration of Kenya’s progressive Constitution, the Court also notes that the government’s actions violate a specific provision of the Kenyan Constitution itself. Article 143(4) of the Constitution reads “[t]he immunity of the President under this Article shall not extend to a crime for which the President...

The highly publicized McCain Amendment is now law. In order to secure the commitment of the President to support this statutory codification of the principle of humane treatment, Senator McCain agreed to the inclusion of a “superior orders” defense. The compromise legislation therefore provides that in any criminal or civil action against any employee of the armed forces or any other government agency for violation of this “humane treatment” mandate, obedience to orders may be raised as a defense. Accordingly, unless the activity forming the basis of the allegation is...

the national defense, knowing or having reason to believe, at the time he receives or obtains, or agrees or attempts to receive or obtain it, that it has been or will be obtained, taken, made, or disposed of by any person contrary to the provisions of this chapter; or…. (e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, … or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to...

...“inspiration” from the various “constitutional traditions common to the Member States” (as the Court puts it), the Court has begun to develop a jurisprudence of “general principles of law,” in order to redeem the EU’s self-conception as a “community based on the rule of law.” Those principles—developed by the Court sua sponte—have enabled the Court to incorporate, within “the structure and aims of the Community,” the substance of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as well as fundamental rights protected by national constitutions. The Court must decide crucial social...

...merely an artistic expression of Casey’s. The defense and prosecution will each present witnesses, expert testimony, and physical evidence to support their arguments. The pretrial issue involves the First Amendment’s provisions governing freedom of speech and expression. It focuses on the constitutionality of the School Violence in Video Games statute, which prohibits the possession of certain types of video games. The defense asserts that the statute is unconstitutional. First, the defense argues that video games are a form of protected expression because they contain expressive elements entitled to First Amendment...

Joe Film casting is so rarely done with any logic in mind. Look at Zang Ziyi being cast in "Memoirs of a Geisha". The Japanese community was terribly offended. But Hollywood studio executives don't really care about accuracy or even political correctness. Their main goal is to fill theater seats with people, and Britney Spears will do that. Anderson I think Britney took that <a href="http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b101256_kate_winslets_prophetic_joke_holocaust.html">Kate Winslet self-spoof</a> too seriously. Anderson Oops, dunno how that hoppened. M. Gross I see no way this could possibly end in tragedy. Time Travel,...