According to these stories from the New York Times and the Washington Times, the US is finding that international assistance to Lebanon (including American) almost always ends up going through the hands of Hezbollah because Hezbollah effectively controls all services in south Lebanon. Both stories speak about the issue as a political inconvenience. However, if, indeed, it is true that...
Professor Ken Anderson has an interesting short piece in the New York Times magazine. He argues that regardless of your political persuasion, there is merit in having counterterrorism policy made through Congressional legislation. Irrespective of where you come down in the debate on the war on terror — including whether it should even be conceived of as a...
The Daily Yomiuri Online is reporting that Japan intends to join the ICC in 2007. The article quotes a senior Foreign Ministry official as saying that the government made the decision "partly because the government aims to participate in the review of the treaty and an election of judges to be held in 2009." If the report is correct, it's...
That thud you hear is the collapse of Security Council Resolution 1696 (2006). Resolution 1696, adopted July 31, specifically invoked Chapter VII in order to demand that Iran stop uranium enrichment and other worrying aspects of its nuclear program, and warned in paragraph 8 of the resolution that the Security Council would impose economic and/or diplomatic sanctions in the event of...
It is sad to see that Professor Heller, like HRW's employees, is unwilling to acknowledge any HRW misteps. It is even sadder to see that Professor Heller, like HRW's employees and other supporters, is willing to distort the facts in order to excuse HRW's and Kenneth Roth's inexcusable behavior. (a) Contrary to Professor Heller's contention, HRW's philosophy has never been...
According to the Associated Press, a U.S. Army officer investgating the murder of three Iraq men near Samarra has recommended that the four accused soldiers should receive the death penalty if convicted. To be sure, the crime is a horrible one:Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Spc. William B. Hunsaker, Pfc. Corey R. Clagett and Spc. Juston R. Graber have claimed they...
It was wonderful to be in Philadelphia to participate in the APSA Roundtable on International Tribunals. The presentations by Allison Danner, Kal Raustiala, Larry Helfer, Jeff Dunoff, Julian Ku, Tom Lee, and Tomer Broude were all superb. I wish each of the speakers had twice as much time. And, of course, drinks at the Continental were a...
In his most recent post, Professor Bell quotes Ken Roth's comment in the New York Sun that Israel's behavior in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict reflects an "[a]n eye for an eye - or more accurately in this case twenty eyes for an eye — [which] may have been the morality of some more primitive moment." Professor Bell then asserts that...
Comoros and Saint Kitts & Nevis have formally acceded to the Rome Statute, becoming the 101st and 102nd members of the ICC. Saint Kitts & Nevis is the 23rd country in the Americas to join the Court; Cormoros is the 28th country in Africa. ...
Rosa Brooks' editorial is a must-read. It is also a non-sequitur. The New York Sun attacked Ken Roth as an anti-Semite for Roth's remark that Israel's behavior was an "[a]n eye for an eye - or more accurately in this case twenty eyes for an eye — [which] may have been the morality of some more primitive moment." Whether Mr. Roth...
Rosa Brooks has a must-read editorial in the Los Angeles Times today on the savage, ad hominem, and counter-productive criticism directed at Human Rights Watch and its director, Ken Roth, over the organization's work on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict: EVER WONDER what it's like to be a pariah? Publish something sharply critical of Israeli government policies and you'll find out. If you're lucky,...
My vote for the most important international case for the month of August is Sarei v. Rio Tinto. I have already given you my quick read of the case here. So I have invited one of the leading international environmental law professors to give his take on this important case. Here is what John Knox of Wake...
