Not a good week for U.N. peacekeepers. A confidential U.N. report described in this Washington Post story concludes that Pakistani peacekeepers in Congo have been helping steal that country's gold. According to the U.N., the blue helmets only helped local plunderers, while Human Rights Watch says they were directly involved in the looting. But that seems virtually harmless compared to...
Here's something I didn't know: Israeli descendants of German survivors of the Holocaust are eligible for German citizenship. And they are getting it in large numbers:Holding her brand-new German passport, Avital Direktor, 29, of Azor, just had to laugh. "What a crazy world," she thought to herself. "Germany's soil is drenched with my family's blood, and in spite of...
One of the most fundamental norms in international law is that a state cannot acquire territory through the use of force. This is understood to be an implication of the U.N. Charter’s ban on force in Art. 2(4): if war is illegal, then benefiting from it should also be illegal. Few major norms are as widely agreed on. Indeed, many...
Speaking of releasing prisoners (see my post below)… a terrorist formerly held at Guantanamo bay died in a gunfight with Pakistani soldiers this week. He blew himself up rather than be captured, suggesting he had valuable intelligence to hide. The gentleman was released from Gitmo a few years ago. He immediately rejoined the jihad, terrorizing the Afghan-Pakistan border area. Notable...
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...
Many international lawyers, particularly those involved in human rights, maintain that for certain serious international crimes, amnesty, exile, plea bargains and other forms of negotiated justice are impermissible. This is so even when the alternative to amnesty be the perpetuation of a murderous regime, or end a bloody civil war. In this view – I think the dominant one –...
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...
Bad news for transparency at the WTO. The United States has issued a press release announcing that a WTO panel session in the dispute between the EU and the US over trade restrictions on civilian aircraft will be made available to the public for viewing by videotape. The hearing will be videotaped and then after the panel confirms that...
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...
Last month, I noted that Chiquita Brands International had been fined $25 million for paying terrorist groups in Colombia not to attack its workers. Julian then pointed out that the families of individuals killed by the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) had filed a class-action lawsuit against Chiquita in D.C. federal court, alleging violations of...
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...
