P.X. Kelley and Robert F. Turner have an op-ed in today’s Washington Post on the most recent twist in the Administration's torture policy that is a must-read. Their essay begins:One of us was appointed commandant of the Marine Corps by President Ronald Reagan; the other served as a lawyer in the Reagan White House and has vigorously defended the constitutionality...
While working on an article on Fourth Generation Warfare (see also this) and international law, I have started reading various blogs that are concerned with the decentralization of military force, the evolution of security threats, and of the techniques for addressing those threats. In case Opinio Juris readers are interested in these (or related) issues, let me note a...
Opinio Juris is pleased to welcome back Professor Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University School of Law, who will be guest-blogging with us for the next week or so. As many of you may remember, Professor Kontorovich was previously with us this past February and he was also a commentator in the Opinio Juris On-Line Symposium. He specializes in public international...
This documentary, which won a special jury prize at Sundance, opens on Friday. Here's a description from the film's website:The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, NO END IN SIGHT is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality. Based on over 200 hours...
In case you haven't heard the, uh, news, I just wanted to update our post on the alleged man-eating badgers in Basra with the recent Iranian announcement that they have captured squirrels with implanted spy equipment. The BBC and the Washington Post have picked up the story. The BBC translation of the Iranian story states:A few weeks...
Yesterday Richard Branson announced the establishment of a group of senior leaders from around the world who would lend their considerable experience and diplomatic “star power” to addressing various international crises ranging from violent conflicts, to AIDS, to climate change, among various possible issues. Although the description of the group, known as the Elders, reminded me...
Thomas Pickering, probably the most respected career diplomat of his generation, and Vern Clark, a retired U.S. Navy admiral and former chief of U.S. naval operations, have an op-ed in today's Times debunking the fear-mongering on the Law of the Sea Treaty. Pickering and Clark note some of the Treaty's advantages:The treaty provides our military the rights of navigation, by water...
With the recent interest in the Goldsmith and Katyal op-ed calling for a National Security Court, I just wanted to point out (as Ben Davis did in the comments to the previous post) a piece written last year by Glenn Sulmasy, a law professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, calling for just such a court. He has also written...
The bloggers at Balkinization have grouped together their posts relating to the use of torture under the title The Anti-Torture Memos: Balkinization Posts on Torture, Interrogation, Detention, War Powers, Executive Authority, DOJ and OLC. Marty Lederman explains in his intro:For ease of reference, we've grouped together [and updated] our posts on the complex of issues raised by torture, interrogation,...
Coming Anarchy has continued its series on Oceania's security challenges, with a new post each Monday. Last week there was a post (once again by Phil Howison of Pacific Empire), on the arc of instability in the South Pacific. This week's is by guest blogger The Strategist, taking a look at the rise of China in Oceania. Interesting and...
A few blogs have recently been posting on security issues in Oceania. Since this is a topic we rarely cover, I wanted to point out a couple of posts that I found informative and enlightening. Coming Anarchy, which has organized the series of posts, has a piece on Oceania’s regions: Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. (The post is actually by guest...
My colleague Michael Perino, who teaches and writes in the area of securities regulation, had the following comment regarding the sovereign wealth funds discussion in my earlier post:One point of perspective worth keeping in mind is that shareholders (despite some of the claims in the article) are quite weak in the US. In large part that weakness flows from collective...
