Kevin's post on the Iraqi-Al Qaeda relationship suggests that there is little evidence of a colloborative relationship in the recently released Iraq files. This might or might not be true, but (because Opinio Juris is fair and balanced), we should also consider evidence from those files showing Saddam's Iraq had connections with, and perhaps plans to work with,...
Here's a story you don't see every day:NAVY EXCHANGES FIRE WITH SUSPECTED PIRATES DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Two U.S. Navy warships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates Saturday off the coast of Somalia, and one suspect was killed and five others were wounded, the navy said. Twelve suspects were taken into custody after the early-morning shootout, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, spokesman...
"Corporations, unlike states, are voluntary contractual associations...
One of the Bush administration's central justifications for invading Iraq was the supposed "collaborative relationship" between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. The link, according to the administration, was Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Iraq, from the bombing of the UN's headquarters to the beheading of Nicholas Berg. Recall Colin Powell's...
The ICC has reached another milestone -- it now has its first indictee in custody: Mr Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese national and alleged founder and leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court as part of the judicial proceedings under the Rome Statute (the “Statute”). Thomas Lubanga is alleged to have...
In the first Tribunal decision to deal with the actions of Mujahedin soldiers in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, the ICTY Trial Chamber II has found two former Bosnian Muslim army commanders, General Enver Hadzihasanovic and Brigadier Amir Kubura, guilty of war crimes committed against Bosnian Croat and Bosnian Serb civilians during the 1992-95 war. Both men were convicted...
There is an interesting Pew Research poll published this week regarding the public's attitude regarding foreign investment, free trade, and the Dubai ports deal. While discussing the survey results, I want to weave comments from Richard Posner and Gary Becker into the discussion because I find their take to be an intellectual articulation of what appears to be...
I'm not sure anyone still believes that newspapers — or news services — objectively report the news, but here's a good example of how different takes on the same event are not only possible but likely. From the AP: FEW MOURNERS COME TO SEE MILOSEVIC COFFIN BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro - The flag-draped coffin of Slobodan Milosevic went on public display Thursday, but...
A group of NGOs including Amnesty International and Oxfam have started a "Control Arms Campaign" to lobby for tougher international arms control. They have issued a report today complaining about the failure of countries to abide by international arms embargoes against a variety of countries. They are also calling for an international treaty to obligate countries to codify...
The U.S. is pulling almost all of its military forces out of Iceland. This is not exactly big news, except perhaps in Iceland itself, which has no other military force. Indeed, the Iceland government has actually been trying to convince the U.S. military to stay, but the U.S. (rightly, I think) has decided that Iceland is no longer...
Justice Ginsburg revealed in a speech that she and Justice O’Connor were the targets of death threats over their citation to foreign and international law. As reported by Tony Mauro of the Legal Times, Ginsburg said: “Although I doubt the current measures will garner sufficient votes to pass, it is disquieting that they have attracted sizable support… And one not-so-small concern...
With some fanfare, the President has released a revised National Security Strategy . The major papers and the media are already dissecting the strategy with each focusing on a different part (e.g. the BBC highlighting the commitment to preemptive attacks while the NYT focusing on the document's attention on Iran as the single greatest threat. The document obviously has no...
