The Bush administration, in an about face, has decided to release Salim Hamdan, the former driver for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, from detention at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility. Hamdan has emerged as the center-piece for the Bush administration's detainee policy in the so-called war on terror. Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan in 2001. […]
The senior leadership of the Holy Land Foundation was convicted today of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists – in this case, Hamas – as well as money laundering and tax evasion. The Dallas Morning News describes the changes each side made to their case after the first prosecution ended in a mistrial. The […]
Orin Kerr has this strong analysis, explaining the importance of today's Second Circuit decision upholding the convictions of several individuals involved in bombing American embassies in Africa ten years ago. (The decision is available here, split into 4th and 5th Amendment issues and other claims, as well as here). Here is Andy McCarthy, one of […]
Coal, obviously, is one of the biggest roadblocks to averting catastrophic climate change. China, the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, gets 75% of its electric power from coal. The US, number two on the carbon dioxide hit parade, gets half of its electricity from coal-fired plants. Worldwide in 2006, coal (and peat) generated 41% […]
What are the political trajectories of Pakistan and Turkey? An article in Middle East Times looks at how analyzing Pakistan and Turkey can "shed light on some of the changing political dynamics within Muslim countries." The article compares and contrasts the experiences in the two countries, where "the role of religion in state affairs" has […]
James Bond is not the only man seemingly oblivious to the charms of Olga Kurylenko. The Ukrainian-born, Paris-based model and actress plays Camille, a Bolivian secret agent on a mission to avenge the murder of her Russian mother, in Quantum of Solace. Although Russia is pretty much irrelevant in the new Bond film, the communists […]
The rays of sun hits the blue roof terraces of Chaufchaouen in Morocco at 8:15, stretch across the valley and then climb the face of the mountain ahead. The smell of kif is thick. Now back on the road through the mountains of the Middle Atlas, through the intensity of Fes, and now Marrakesh, a […]
Syria's SANA News Agency reports that tomorrow Damascus will play host to an international conference on the Palestinian ‘right of return’. According to SANA, the conference will aim to the solidify the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland as a condition without exception, refusing any moves to nationalize Palestinian refugees in their host […]
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Gandhi Open the door for children, by working to see the change in the world that will enable them to have a future of hope and prosperity. Giving children hope along with the tools for the future will not only open the door […]
I've been so jazzed by the coup d'état in the House of Representatives (see last two posts below plus this from early this month) that I've neglected some other big stories. There are some great ones out there. GHG Cap in the UK , MPs pass landmark climate change bill is the story from AFP. […]
The trials began 63 years ago yesterday. The groundbreaking trials were a revolution in international criminal law, setting forth the principle that legalizing vicious abuses such as crimes against humanity under domestic law could not provide impunity. Rather, such abuses always violated international law. When the Khmer leaders or the interhamwe or Charles Taylor or […]
Today, November 20th, marks the day on which the United Nations Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989. Universal Children's Day. In a press release UNICEF USA issed an appeal to the public to get involved with the Presidential Initiative target […]
For those of you interested in pirates outside of their rakish hilarity and annual holiday – that is, in the continuing and significant threat they pose to international security – there's been considerable additional discussion today of the Somali pirate affair. Here's Patrick Barry on the various international parties now attempting to police the Gulf […]
Here is Evan Kohlmann at CounterTerrorismBlog. Short version: Al-Zawahiri has put his foot in his mouth before, angering even other Islamic terrorists by acting as if groups like Hamas and other Iraqi insurgents are duty-bound to do as he tells them. Walid Phares assesses the whole tape. Kohlmann also helpfully links a full transcript of […]
I’ve noted before that the State Department is making use of Web 2.0 social networking tools and in this latest example they are using the Twitter service to promote public diplomacy: For those of you on Twitter, you can experience public diplomacy in real-time as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Colleen […]