In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

11 Nov

Phenomenal video by Aaron Koblin of flight patterns. Animates the popular poem on flight, "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings." ...

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11 Nov

The U.S. Trade Representative announced yesterday that the U.S. and Russia will sign a bilateral agreement clearing the way for Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization next year. According to the NYT, the agreement should be signed by President Bush and President Putin during the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Hanoi next week (where, incidentally, President Bush...

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10 Nov

Here we go again. According to Time.com, Germany's chief prosecutor will be petitioned next week to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld and various U.S. officials for "abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." (UPDATE: The petition was filed by the NY-based Center for Constitutional Rights and their background brief can be...

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10 Nov

Not surprisingly, the international trade press is reporting this week that passage of free trade agreements is going to be much more difficult to secure now that the Democrats are in charge of Congress. According to Inside Trade, (subscription) "AFL-CIO Vice President Richard Trumka said the AFL-CIO would ask the new leaders in Congress to take a 'strategic pause' in considering...

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10 Nov

The Eleventh Circuit last week rendered a fascinating decision regarding Peru's failure to honor a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of a fugitive. In Guevara v. Peru, Jose Guevara provided the necessary information that led to the capture of Vladimiro Montesinos, but Peru failed to pay the reward to Guevara. Guevara brought a breach...

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09 Nov

According to Steve Clemons at the Washington Note, Bolton's nomination is dead despite Bush re-nominating him:At 1:22 pm, the White House sent John Bolton's controversial nomination to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations back up to the Senate. Luckily, Lincoln Chafee would have none of it — suggesting that such a nomination is clearly not in the spirit of...

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09 Nov

The midterms have already had a dramatic effect on foreign policy through the Rumsfeld resignation. I wanted to add, however, to the dialogue Roger Alford began yesterday on foreign policy impacts by focusing on another hot button issue: climate change. When withdrawing from Kyoto, President Bush acknowledged that the U.S. at the time produced almost 20% of the...

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08 Nov

News involving Saddam to report: Saddam's principal defense attorney, Khalil Duleimi, has accused the U.S. military of confining the defense team in the Green Zone since the verdict was announced, preventing them from returning to Amman. Dulemi believes that their confinement represents a deliberate attempt on the part of the military to deprive them of access to the media and...

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08 Nov

File this one under "not such a good idea":Part of a Nazi leader's speech was played over the public address system before a high school soccer game, prompting an apology by the home team's principal. Forestview High School principal Robert Carpenter said neither he nor his team's coach knew about the speech before the 90-second excerpt was played during warmups Saturday,...

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08 Nov

In a move likely to have a significant impact on U.S. foreign policy, particularly with respect to Iraq, President Bush announced today that Donald Rumsfeld is resigning as Defense Secretary and that Robert Gates is replacing him. Here's an excerpt from the ABC News Report: Donald Rumsfeld will resign as Defense Secretary in a stunning consequence of yesterday's midterm election results...

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