One of the under-reported stories of the past four years is the tragedy of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. That the near collapse and human decimation of one of Africa’s most beautiful, prosperous and resource-rich countries has been relatively ignored at the UN and in Washington and the European capitals is, perhaps, the unfortunate result of a confluence of distracting world...
If you are in southern California next weekend there will be a conference at Pepperdine on Friday, January 19 on the subject of "The War on Terrorism: Examining the Roles of Congress, The President, and the Courts." Panelists include Akhil Amar (Yale), Neal Katyal (Georgetown), Eric Posner (Chicago), John Yoo (Boalt Hall), Janet Alexander (Stanford), and Michael Paulsen...
One of the basic issues regarding Bush's intention to escalate the war in Iraq by committing 20,000 more troops is where the additional troops will come from. As Colin Powell has pointed out, the U.S. military is "about broken" — "[t]he current active Army is not large enough and the Marine Corps is not large enough for the kinds...
There was a fascinating case coming out of Indiana last month concerning the issue of profiling a person who is a serious risk for international child abduction. In Shady v. Shady, much of the case reads like a typical divorce and custody proceeding. But the interesting twist is that the custodial parent, Sheanin Shady, requested an order from...
The IHT has officially dismissed Saddam from the Anfal trial. The trial will continue against Saddam's six co-defendants, which include his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, the infamous "Chemical Ali." ...
The NYT Arts section reports that the Tricycle Theater in London will run a play from April 19-May 19 entitled, "Called to Account: The Indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair for the Crime of Aggression Against Iraq — A Hearing". The "play" will be dramatized based on real closed door cross-examinations of 20 international experts by two British...
According to the Sunday Times of London:Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources...
A baby that would otherwise have otherwise won a $25,000 savings bond as the first baby born in the new year was disqualified because her mother is an undocumented immigrant (story here). What makes this episode remarkable is that I can't think of any other context in which a child born in the US (a full citizen, of course, as...
When I took an introduction to international relations course in college, one of the texts we focused on was Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War. In particular, we spent alot of time on the Melian Dialogue and that realist bumper-sticker: "The strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must.” That dialogue has returned again and again in my education...
Donald Donovan of Debevoise & Plimpton represented Mexico before the ICJ in the Avena case concerning 51 Mexican nationals on death row in the U.S. He subsequently sought compliance with teh ICJ's Avena decision in the Medellin case that went up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Donovan also litigated Breard, the first Vienna Convention on Consular Relations case...
Okay, in less than a week I have found myself in complete agreement with Christopher Hitchens and Charles Krauthammer, both of whom have written exceptional editorials on Saddam's execution. Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse or something? ...
This from yesterday's story in the Times on the Padilla case: The seven taped phone calls that bear Mr. Padilla’s voice involve conversations with Mr. Hassoun from 1997 to 2000. On those calls, Mr. Padilla, unlike some of the other defendants, does not employ what the government says is coded language. According to the government, other defendants refer to their...
