Foreign Policy editor Moises Naim proposes a ratings agency for NGOs to akin to those assessing creditworthiness in the global financial system in this piece from the WaPo. Naim highlights the rise of government-organized NGOs (GONGOs) that "are crowding out and muddling the voices of the country's legitimate civil society. . . [The] effectiveness of nongovernmental organizations will suffer...
Last night my family watched American Idol's charity event "Idol Gives Back" to raise money for charities in Africa and the United States. (You can watch some of the program here.) American Idol has partnered with organizations such as Malaria No More, UNICEF, Save the Children, The Global Fund, Boys and Girls Club of America, and America's Second...
Maybe Duncan or others can help me out here, but how exactly can Russia legally "suspend" its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, as the Washington Post reports today? Russia is unhappy about the planned deployment of a limited NATO missile defense system in Europe. Under the treaty's Article XIX, the Treaty is of "unlimited duration". Russia...
For more on the Bush administration's never-ending struggle to deprive alleged terrorists of meaningful legal representation, see this excellent post by Jack Balkin at Balkinization. Here is a snippet from the disturbing New York Times article that Balkin discusses:The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees...
Not surprisingly, New York has disbarred Lynne Stewart. She attempted to voluntarily resign, but the Court of Appeals held that disbarment was automatic because she was convicted of feloniously making a false statement. I explain here why I believe Stewart's conviction for materially supporting terrorism was unjust. ...
Anne Applebaum has some interesting observations over at Slate about the global repercussions of the Virginia Tech shooting. While some of the foreign press coverage has (predictably) focused on the prevalence of guns and violence in American culture, some of the reaction overseas appears to have simultaneously transcended national differences and underscored the local nature of the loss: This...
One of the topics I cover in my first-year Law & Society class is the right to freedom of expression. Because New Zealand does not have a written constitution, that right is guaranteed by statute — the Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BORA). New Zealand courts take freedom of expression seriously, but there is no question that BORA...
I'm sorry but I just could not resist posting this wonderful letter to the editor sent by a reader in Hot Springs, Arkansas. (click to enlarge). The letter reads, "You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of...
According to this report, the Bosnian government is considering an application to the ICJ "for revision of a judgment," under Article 61 of the ICJ Statute. This action is being considered because of the continued furor over missing or redacted Serbian government documents that may have established Serbia's liability for genocide. (see my posts below for more background) An...
Let me add my own thoughts to what Julian has said regarding yesterday's oral argument in Permanent Mission to India v. City of New York. I agree that the case is boring, but there is one really interesting issue regarding the use of a foreign treaty as legislative history. The precise statutory question was the meaning of the...
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a long-running dispute between the City of New York and the governments of India and Mongolia over their tax liability for real property used for their permanent missions to the United Nations. A transcript of oral argument is here. (See SCOTUSBlog's very useful summary here and other links to...
Michael Hirsh thinks it is, in this tightly argued piece in the latest edition of the Washington Monthly. He takes on the new conventional wisdom that the global system will have to be fundamentally reordered in the wake of the Bush Administration’s “lethal mixture of arrogance and incompetence.” The article singles out Obama and his foreign policy crew...
