Like Ken, I plan on discussing Phillip Alston's report on drone strikes when it's released. Alston was just at Melbourne Law School last week, talking about his role as rapporteur. He's a remarkable person. With regard to drone strikes in armed conflict, Ken quite rightly points out that CIA operators cannot lawfully be attacked by a terrorist group even if they...
Skytrax has released its annual list of the world's 10 best airlines. Here they are, from #1 down: Asiana Airlines Singapore Airlines Qatar Airways Cathay Pacific Air New Zealand Etihad Airways Qantas Emirates Thai Airways Malaysia Airlines Two things stand out. First, Asian and Australia/New Zealand dominate. I fly Air New Zealand and Qantas regularly, and think both are excellent. (Air New Zealand is better, as the ratings indicate.) I also...
A couple of years ago, I blogged about how Salim Hamdan was prosecuted in a military commission for conspiring to commit the non-existent war crime "murder in violation of the law of war." Hamdan was acquitted on that count, but the crime is starring again in the unconscionable prosecution of child-soldier Omar Khadr. That's unfortunate in itself -- but what...
So, Alan Dershowitz has decided that international law needs to be "delegitimized," because it is unfair to Israel. It is reasonable to consider, therefore, what Dershowitz believes a "fair" international law would allow Israel to do. Here is one of his suggestions, from a 2002 Jerusalem Post editorial entitled "New Response to Palestinian Terrorism" (emphasis mine): In light of the...
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia has just held that JCE III, otherwise known as "extended" joint criminal enterprise, did not exist under customary international law during 1975-1979, the period over which the ECCC has temporal jurisdiction. The decision is a stunning rebuke to the ICTY, which invented -- literally out of thin air -- that form of...
I continue to believe that this is a terrible idea: Spain's top judicial panel had suspended Mr Garzon on Friday pending his trial on charges he exceeded his authority by ordering an investigation into mass killings by the forces of former dictator Francisco Franco. The suspension from his functions as a judge was widely thought in Spain...
As the smear campaign against Richard Goldstone gets ever more desperate, it seems opportune to provide a bit more information about Israel's support for apartheid, to which Goldstone's pales in comparison. Here is Sasha Polokow-Suransky again, this time responding to attacks on Goldstone by the Speaker of the Knesset and Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister: Goldstone's apartheid-era judicial rulings are undoubtedly a...
A good editorial, one that provides important context. Here's a snippet: From the beginning, the case against Garzon has seemed to be motivated by political and personal vendettas, and the timing of these decisions is no exception. Early in the week, Garzon had asked Spanish authorities for a seven-month leave to work as a consultant to the International...
Professor Schuck has graciously permitted me to post his response. Here it is: I am grateful for the comments that have been posted about my op-ed, and believe that John correctly captures my position. It is common for the law to permit finders of fact to draw inferences from conduct, including inferences that are contrary to the words used by the...
Ken has already flagged the editorial, in which Schuck -- a superb scholar who teaches at Yale -- argues that it would be constitutionally permissible to strip Faisal Shahzad's US citizenship because of his attempt to set off a car-bomb in Times Square. I'm skeptical of Schuck's argument, so I thought I'd explain why. Here are the key paragraphs: Revoking the...
I was going to wait until the book -- entitled The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa -- came out to mention it, but now seems like an opportune time. You can pre-order the book from Amazon here, and here is the description: A revealing account of how Israel’s booming arms industry and apartheid South Africa’s international...
I will write in more detail when I have a bit more time, but I can't let Dershowitz's ridiculously slanted and ahistorical attack on Richard Goldstone pass without comment. Sasha Polakow-Suransky, a Senior Editor at Foreign Affairs who is an expert on Israel-South Africa relations, has responded to the allegations made in the Yediot Ahronoth story Dershowitz cites, allegations that...
