Samuel Moyn’s vicious and unprincipled attack on Michael Ratner, one of the finest human rights attorneys of our time, was published in the New York Review of Books (NYRB) on September 1. Moyn singles out Ratner as a whipping boy to support his own bizarre theory that punishing war crimes prolongs war by making it [...]
There has been concerted global lobbying for the abolition of capital punishment. This is evidenced by, among other things, the passage of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty and a similar move being made by other regional entities such as [...]
Even though the US State Department is issuing positive statements about the Taliban, it is hard for the US to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s lawful government. The reasons are evident and understandable. First, the Taliban have defeated the US military in a protracted war stretching over twenty years (2001-2021). The hurt in the Pentagon, [...]
RBG’s ghost is stirring. When the US Supreme Court added a Mississippi case to its docket this term challenging a state law banning most abortions after 15 weeks, alarms went up that the Court’s new 6-3 conservative majority was coming after Roe v. Wade. Many believe the Court tipped its hand this week by declining to [...]
Abstract: Following US withdrawal from Afghanistan, America’s security focus will turn more expressly to Iran. The core problem with America’s Afghanistan withdrawal was not one of timing or tactics, but of original misconception. In essence, the “Afghanistan Problem” stemmed from an initially underestimated and misunderstood military operation. Looking ahead, Afghanistan’s incoherent conclusion means, inter alia, [...]
The arguments made by the autonomous vehicle (AV) industry for limited regulation and rapid deployment of self-driving car technology bear a striking resemblance to the discussion about the US regulatory response to Covid-19 vaccines. Both appeal to exigent circumstances as a reason for rapid action to save lives, even if that means throwing some precautions [...]
Introduction On 7 July 2021, the Law Commission of Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India, released a draft bill on population control. The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill, 2021, pursuant to the 2022 elections in the state, is purported to be a draconian draft to control the population of the State. [...]
For the past 18 months, ever since February 29, 2020, when President Donald J. Trump Jr. finalized a deal with the Taliban to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, international organizations and civil society groups have been warning of the potential for increased violence and potential mass atrocities in the country. [...]
Most people presumably would consider Afghanistan to be somewhat of a pariah—or even rogue—state when it comes to respect for human rights. But the truth is that Afghanistan is more entwined in international legal regimes than one would expect, meaning it’s also more subject to enforcement measures than one would expect. The so-called “International Bill [...]
President Qaies Saied of Tunisia claimed he was acting constitutionally when he arrogated broad powers for himself on July 25, after months of stalemate among Tunisia’s governing institutions and amid a deepening Covid-19 crisis. The constitutional provision he invoked states that after 30 days, the Constitutional Court, upon a request from the Parliament, is to [...]
