Those who defend Israel's use of armed force -- in Gaza and elsewhere -- often complain that critics reflexively assume the worst about Israel's intentions. There is more than a grain of truth to that, but Israel doesn't help itself with its inability to admit that faulty intelligence sometimes leads it to make mistakes. Case in point: the attack on...
Comments like this one, made not by some obscure commenter but by David Bernstein, a law professor at George Mason and a member of The Volokh Conspiracy, in response to my Dershowitz post below: Herein the phoniness of international law. Humble Law Student has raised several significant questions with Heller’s analysis, including whether it matters under international law, as it surely...
Alan Dershowitz published an editorial yesterday in the Wall Street Journal that argues Israel's attacks on Hamas in Gaza are "perfectly proportionate." I have no desire to argue the substance of that point, in part because views on Israel and Palestine are largely impervious to facts or argument (on both sides), but largely because the concept of proportionality is so...
Germany has sued Italy before the ICJ challenging successful Italian lawsuits that have denied Germany's sovereign immunity arising out of World War II forced labor claims. The ICJ press release is here. Here is Germany's key argument: “In recent years, Italian judicial bodies have repeatedly disregarded the jurisdictional immunity of Germany as a sovereign State. The critical...
The Jordanian Bar Association (JBA) is on a roll. In addition to participating in the seminar I discussed in my last post, the JBA has also asked the Jordanian government -- Jordan is one of three Arab states that have ratified the Rome Statute -- to formally request the ICC's Assembly of States Parties (ASP) remove Moreno-Ocampo from office because...
I know, fisking pro-Bashir propaganda is kind of a pointless task, but the article made me mad with its shameless inaccuracy. It's unfortunate that so many Arab readers -- the original article was published in the Al Rai Jordanian Daily -- are exposed to this kind of garbage concerning the ICC and Darfur. Without further ado, the fisking...
The Wall Street Journal has a front page news story today that will not surprise anyone who follows the daily life of the United Nations - Andrew Higgins and Steve Stecklow, "U.N. Push to Stem Misconduct Flounders," WSJ, December 26, 2008, A1. It seems to be behind the subscriber wall (maybe not), but anyway here is a bit: An American-backed drive...
Two interesting articles today about countries that want the ICC to get involved in their internal problems. First, the Indian government apparently wants the Court to prosecute Pakistanis who are responsible for masterminding terrorist attacks, including the recent attack in Mumbai: "[h]ighly placed government sources have told TIMES NOW that decks are being cleared by New Delhi to get the...
Scott Horton has a typically excellent post today at Harpers.org discussing the perversity of right-wing commentators who defend the use of torture. But I was troubled by the following comment about the ICC, which he offers in agreement with an old editorial by David Rivkin and Lee Casey: Rivkin’s history is much like that of Reynolds and Goldberg. Back when the...
Having finally resolved the disclosure issue, the Lubanga trial is set to begin on January 26, a little more than one month from today. Unfortunately, the problems with the case continue: The senior trial lawyer in charge of the first case to be tried at the International Criminal Court has been taken off the case little more than...
It turns out that all is not lost for the Lisbon Treaty (aka the EU Reform Treaty). It had all the markings of an unperfected treaty after Ireland gave it a "no" vote this past summer via a referendum. (Interestingly, Ireland was the only state to hold one, since negotiators had designed the Reform Treaty to avoid such reviews given what they did to the...
A lawyer and human-rights activist with whom I spent some time while I was in Sarajevo, Adnan Kadribasic, has given me permission to turn his comment to my Karadzic post into a post of its own. I think it's remarkable, and I want everyone to see it. Here it is, edited only for typos: Dear Kevin, I support all of your...
