A copy of the letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President George Bush is now available. A copy of it is here. Here is a short summary: President Bush you are a hypocrite. (page 1). You profess to be a Christian, present liberalism as a civilized model, oppose WMDs, and work toward a unified international community, but...
One of the most exciting things about the University of Auckland Faculty of Law, my home in less than a month now, is that a significant percentage of its students and faculty are Maori. So I was very disturbed to come across this article, discussing Philip Morris's recent apology to the Maori for selling "Maori Mix" cigarettes in Israel....
Public international law concerns itself with topics ranging from the weighty issues of war and peace to the seemingly silly questions of whether foreign diplomats and consular officers should be exempt from paying parking tickets and bridge and tunnel tolls. But silly questions have a way of creating waves that can lead in unpredictable directions. The current US Ambassador to...
One of the new and exciting developments in technology is podcasting. So far the use of podcasting on academic blogs is in its infancy. Very few law blogs (Ann Althouse is an exception) include podcasting as part of their content. Significantly, the Council on Foreign Relations has just started a library of podcasting available here. ...
State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger concluded his response to the UN Committee Against Torture yesterday, addressing over 50 questions concerning the U.S. practice and policy relating to torture. The UN's summary of Friday's meeting is available here and Monday's meeting is available here. (The State Department has not yet issued summaries or transcripts). It is...
As veteran readers of this blog may recall, I've been studying the way that federal courts use foreign decisions, a hot topic since the Supreme Court cited European cases in Roper, Atkins, and Lawrence, all of which were decisions expanding constitutional protections, and all of which have been hotly decried and hotly defended for resorting to foreign law. I...
I had the opportunity to see United 93 over the weekend. Resist the doubters and go see this movie. It is more than worth the price of admission. It achieves one of its principal goals, which was to address the question, "What should be our response to terrorism?" In the words of Director Paul Greengrass, "the terrible dilemma those...
Nicholas Kristof has another good column on Darfur today. His focus turns to those who deserve credit for battling American indifference. His answer: bloggers, teenagers, and celebrities. They are the new grassroots citizens army in this battle against bystanding on the genocide in Darfur. "For three grueling years, Eric Reeves has been fighting for his life,...
Forbes has published its annual list of the world's 10 wealthiest "Kings, Queens, and Dictators." Heading the list, not surprisingly, are the oil magnates: King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia ($21 billion), Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei ($20 billion), and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE ($19 billion). The first ruler not in...
Thirteen of the leading malaria experts in the world are accusing the World Bank of lying about its efforts to fight malaria: Today, 13 malaria specialists from around the world accuse the World Bank of reneging on its promise to spend at least $300m on malaria control in Africa. They say much of its spending from 2000 to 2005 has been concealed,...
State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger appeared before the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva to discuss the U.S. policy and practice as it relates to torture. A transcript of Bellinger's remarks is not yet available. An eleven page questionnaire presented by the Committee Against Torture is available here. Some of the questions are extraordinarily interesting and,...
The Fifth Circuit recently rendered an important decision relating to international arbitration. The case of Bridas v. Turkmenistan (“Bridas II”) addressed the confirmation of an arbitration award. An Argentine corporation, Bridas, had contracted with a Turkmenistan government entity. The arbitrators rendered a $495 million award against the Turkmenistan government entity as well as against the Government of...
