If you haven't seen this already, you should. The eight-minute video shows the winner of Ukraine's Got Talent, 24-year-old Kseniya Simonova, dramatizing the effect of Operation Barbarossa on the Ukraine through a series of drawings on an illuminated sand table. It is absolutely mesmerizing -- beautiful, disturbing, moving. As you will see, many members of the audience...
The Trial Chamber has granted certification to appeal its decision upholding the Registry's selection of Richard Harvey as stand-by counsel. Here are the relevant paragraphs: 10. With regard to the first limb that must be met before certification to appeal can be granted under Rule 73(B) of the Rules, the Chamber notes that the Decision Denying Motion to Vacate concerned the...
I've been writing Chapter 3 of my book on the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, which traces the evolution of the Office of the Chief of Counsel's trial program -- how it selected the twelve cases, why it abandoned others, which suspects it included and which it excluded. It's a fun chapter to write, both because no one has ever done it...
My friend and IntLawGrrl contributor Beth van Schaack has asked me to post the following call for papers: Call for Papers: Women & International Criminal Law Special Issue of the International Criminal Law Review Dedicated to Judge Patricia M. Wald The International Criminal Law Review invites submissions for its 2010 special issue entitled "Women and International Criminal Law," to be guest-edited by...
I have a scholarship question for our readers, particularly those who have been article editors on a law review. On three separate occasions recently, I have seen CVs that identify a particular publication as a "lead article." I always assumed that the order of articles in a non-thematic issue of a law review was more or less random -- or...
I have just been informed that Sir Ian Brownlie, one of the true legends of international law, has died in a car crash in Egypt. I have no other information, as it has apparently not been reported yet. Tremendously sad news. I'm sure we will have much more information in the coming days....
Last year, as I was reading an early draft of the agenda for the ICC's Review Conference in 2010, I asked myself what I would change about the Rome Statute if I was King of the Assembly of States Parties. My answer was that I would amend Article 17, the complementarity provision, to make a case admissible if a national...
I rarely agree with our colleagues at the Volokh Conspiracy, but I think Jonathan Adler is right on the mark when he describes the TSA's security measures as "political theater." It's all about creating the illusion of safety, not actual safety. An erstwhile terrorist needs more than 100ml of a particular liquid to make a bomb? Let's hope he's not...
The Trial Chamber has -- completely unsurprisingly -- rejected Dr. Karadzic's motion challenging Richard Harvey's appointment as stand-by counsel. As I explained in a previous post, that challenge was based on three grounds: (1) Harvey's appointment violates Article 21(4) of the ICTY Statute, which provides that a defendant has the right “to communicate with counsel of his own choosing” and...
B. Don Taylor, a former legal officer at the ICTY and a good friend, has argued in the comments to a recent post that although Dr. Karadzic's criticisms of the procedure the Registry used to appoint Harvey may well have merit, Dr. Karadzic's request for certification to appeal the Rule 44 issue did not adequately raise the issue. I disagree...
Charles Johnson, founder of the conservative blog Little Green Footballs, has announced that he has parted ways with the right-wing in the US. His list of ten reasons is remarkable for its honesty and its perspicacity: 1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.) 2....
Americans who defend the legality of the invasion of Iraq almost invariably point to the fact that Britain's Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, also approved the invasion. That argument has always been questionable; rumours have long circulated that Lord Goldsmith did not believe that the invasion was legal, but was pressured by Downing Street into approving it anyway. According to an explosive...
