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POPSArab League to meet over Sudan ICC issue Sudan’s appointment of a special prosecutor was seen as concession that would provide leverage to the Arab League and African Union (AU) when requesting a resolution from the UN Security Council (UNSC) deferring Al-Bashir’s indictment under Article 16 of the ICC Statute. Sabdarat said today that the prosecutions have made some progress with some suspects in detention and being investigated. He also lashed out at Ocampo saying that he crossed his limits as a prosecutor by discussing his case on “satellite TV’s”. The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I headed held a closed meeting with Ocampo this week regarding his application for the first time. It is expected that they may take up to three months to issue a decision. Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UNSC triggered the provisions under the Statute that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.
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POPSSudan establishes more committees for Darfur Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. It was only this week that the ICC judges began consideration of the evidence submitted before making a decision which may take from a few weeks to several months. Sabdarat said in the new decree that the mandate of the additional committees will include “receiving citizens complaints, facilitate meetings of victims and witnesses with the prosecutor, preliminary assessment of material damages, foster national reconciliation, blood money”. Moreover the committees can utilize the expertise of additional advisers after consultation with the Justice Minister. The special prosecutor is supposed to report monthly on the progress of his work. However nothing has emerged yet on the findings of his mission.
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POPSInternational Criminal Court and Russia No teeth... like everything else the UN sponsors. Cont... (Russia apparently will help ethnic Russian citizens of Georgia file claims with the ICC. Russia itself has no power to ask the ICC to act, but Georgians do. Sneaky!) Meanwhile, here’s a question for the weekend. Suppose Georgia had been a member of NATO when Russia invaded its territory earlier this month. Would NATO military forces have honored the treaty obligation and launched a military response even though no one in the west thinks that Georgia is worth World War III? If not, would NATO have been revealed as a meaningless institution? Or should we assume that Russia would not have attacked Georgia in the first place for fear of provoking a military response from NATO?
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POPSShould The US Join The ICC??? McCain thinks so! Here is another article on the opinions of candidates who were are still are in the race for POTUS. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/02/MNLUU4LBH.DTL
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POPSMore Executions In Texas Local " Lawmakers " in Texas responded to the world courts decision the same way, the Serbian Nationalists reacted to The arrest and trial of Karadizc. NO JURISDICTION HERE
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POPSSouth Africa Tells Robert Mugabe To Surrender Worse was to follow. Mbeki flew to Harare and said that Mugabe and Tsvangirai must meet to sign a memorandum of understanding committing themselves to serious negotiations and to share power. The talks, he insisted, must be concluded within two weeks and the two men must meet, shake hands and sign the memorandum. Mugabe had never been willing to meet Tsvangirai, let alone shake his hand. According to leading Zanu-PF sources, he is frightened of going on trial for human rights crimes, particularly since an arrest warrant was issued against Omar Bashir, Sudan’s president, earlier this month. Under Mbeki’s pressure Mugabe gave in.
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POPSCourt Moves To Charge Sudanese President al-Bashir With Genocide "The solution to problems and the current situation in Darfur is not completely independent from the work of the International Criminal Court." The German chancellor said she and Ban also discussed instability in Zimbabwe and the challenge of supporting Africa as food and fuel prices skyrocket. Merkel said that Germany had pledged €600 million (US$954 million) in emergency aid to African nations struggling to deal with rising prices. "Naturally, Germany is strongly committed to development aid." Ban was in Germany for a two-day visit that will also take him to Bonn, where several U.N. programs have their headquarters.
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POPSDarfur Crime Charges Sought Against Sudanese President The piece continues: Mr. Moreno-Ocampo says that for over five years, armed forces and the Janjaweed attacked and destroyed villages on Mr. Al-Bashir’s orders. They also uprooted millions of civilians from their lands, killed the men and raped the women. “I don’t have the luxury to look away. I have evidence,” the Prosecutor said.
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POPS Secret memo shows Israel knew Settlements were illegal The argument that the settlements are illegal, stated in successive UN resolutions, and by the International Court of Justice advisory opinion condemning the separation barrier in 2004, is reinforced by such an authoritative source. It strengthens the political case in any "final status" negotiations on borders with the Palestinians for genuinely equitable land swaps of Israeli territory to a future Palestinian state if Israel is to retain settlement blocks.
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POPSDhimmi Dutch Prosecutors And Geert Wilders "Fitna" WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES SPIEGEL: You invoke the right to freedom of opinion but you demand a prohibition of the Koran. Does that not contravene the principle of religious tolerance? Wilders: For me, Islam is a vision of a society that defines all forms of interpersonal behavior -- from inheritance to criminal law. This ideology endangers our values. I hate it, I don't hate Muslims. SPIEGEL: Is the comparison between the Koran and Hitler's "Mein Kampf" not totally inappropriate? In making it, you're providing the imams with a perfect image of the enemy. Wilders: I want to provoke a discussion. Certain Koranic verses have moved their followers to commit the most abhorrent acts. Where is the imam who stands up in the Netherlands and says, for us, homosexuals are entitled to equal rights and everyone has the right to abandon their faith. http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/03/geert-wilders-i.html
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POPSMaiming in your Name: "the sovereign" Bush In a 2003 memo released yesterday, the US justice department extended the sweeping wartime powers claimed by Bush to military interrogators, giving them freedom from criminal laws when questioning al-Qaida suspects. The 81-page brief was released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which fought the administration in court to secure the release of documents. ...Guardian
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POPSInternational Treaty/Domestic Law Perhaps a Texas resident will be subjected to criminal prosecution abroad in violation of treaty, and Texas will have the same luck getting that country to abide by the treaty as Mexico had with us.
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POPSBolton: Boisterous Bully Of Bloviation "There is an excellent review of John Bolton's new book, "Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad" by Brian Urquhart (a former UN under-secretary general) in the March 6, 2008 issue of The New York Review of Books ("One Angry Man"). "Urquhart reminds us that as an undersecretary of state, before his stint at the UN, "he did much to undermine America's leadership and position in the world." Actually, not a bad thing as undermining and weakening the power of the number one imperialist power strengthens the world progressive movement. Perhaps Bolton is a secret anti-imperialist? What Urquhart has reference to, however, is Bolton's role in undermining the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the International Criminal Court. Of course he could have only done this with the consent of his masters Bush, Cheney and the ineffective Colin Powell." ...Countercurrents
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POPSWill McCain Oppose $845 Billion Earmark? Obama/Smith Bill
Obama has been busy on the campaign trail but Rep. Adam Smith, the sponsor of the Global Poverty Act in the other body, has been busy complaining about my coverage of this matter! In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that Millennium Declaration commits nations to banning "small arms and light weapons" and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Millennium Declaration also affirms the U.N. as "the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development." Does anybody seriously believe that? Does Rep. Adam Smith? Does Senator Barack Obama? Does Senator McCain? It is now on the verge of passage by the full S
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POPSTop 25 Censored news stories of 2007
Jimminy Jilickers Radioactive Man, the vice president is selling nukes to Iran and the media doesn't want to talk about it! And that's just the second most significant news story swept under the rug this year according to this Kronkite-endorsed .org. I wonder, what is going on behind the scenes that we aren't privy to, and how does it affect my daily life/sense of reality? If the VP (by way of Halliburton) is in bed with Iran then its not a stretch to think that the media could be in bed with the government. Its almost impossible to know where the real lines are drawn anymore. Democrat/Republican. Democracy/Dictatorship. Capitalist/Fundamentalist. Journalist/Editorialist. Sinner/Saint Its all the same now, the lines are totally blurred. It could be conjectured that much of what we are sold, told, and taught is designed to keep us just "in the know" enough to do our jobs , buy things, and have babies that will grow up, do jobs, and buy things. Long live the American
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POPSRumsfeld Flees France Fearing Arrest Of course, the French did not catch him. But then, the unresolved situation as it stands is so very much more elegant than the potential unpleasantness and paperwork involved in actually catching and prosecuting him, which would have allowed Bush to do something. This situation leaves the White House impotent - and leaves Rumsfeld an official fugitive from justice. Of course, the honorable thing would have been to INSIST that the matter be resolved before a court. But under Napoleonic Law, you have to establish your innocence, rather than our system, where the prosecution has to prove your guilt. I can understand why Rummy might prefer a venue with different standards. A FISA court, for instance.
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POPSTwo marines to face Haditha trial Eight US soldiers were originally charged in connection with the killings, which sparked international outrage. After a report in Time magazine showed flaws in the initial marine statement, a preliminary investigation was begun. The inquiry confirmed civilians had been shot in their homes, but described the deaths as "collateral damage". Sad, all around.
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POPS Bush Rules For International Court of Justice Authority As for the President, it looks like he's trying to bring into being the New World Order his father only talked about. It's not a legacy to be proud of. But it's one that a President Hillary Clinton would like to inherit. Trying to appease his foreign audience at The Hague, Bellinger declared that Bush was now trying to get 35 treaties, including UNCLOS, ratified. Bellinger declared that "international law binds us in our domestic system" and that the Bush Administration had entered into 429 international agreements and treaties last year alone. He bragged that, "�I have a staff of 171 lawyers, who work every day to furnish advice on legal matters, domestic and international, and to promote the development of international law as a fundamental element of our foreign policy."
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