Interesting

Category: Accountability (Page 1 of 18)

Handful of countries responsible for climate crisis, international court of justice (ICJ) told

Isabella Kaminski, writing for The Guardian »

The court heard how Pacific island states such as Vanuatu were bearing the brunt of rising sea levels and increasingly frequent and severe disasters. “We find ourselves on the frontlines of a crisis we did not create,” Regenvanu said.

The hearing is the culmination of years of campaigning by a group of Pacific island law students and diplomacy spearheaded by Vanuatu.

Over the next two weeks, the court will hear statements from 98 countries, including wealthy developed states with the greatest historical responsibility for the climate emergency, such as the UK and Russia, and states that have contributed very little to global greenhouse gas emissions but stand to bear the brunt of their impact, including Bangladesh and Sudan as well as Pacific island countries.

The US and China, the world’s biggest emitters, will make statements too, even though neither fully recognises the court’s authority.

Trump’s choice for FBI director — Kash Patel — speaks volumes about his real second-term agenda

Tom Nichols, writing for The Atlantic »

Of course, this means the FBI would struggle to do the things it’s supposed to be doing, including fighting crime and conducting counter-intelligence work against America’s enemies. But it would become an excellent instrument of revenge against anyone Trump or Patel identifies as an internal enemy—which, in Trump’s world, is anyone who criticizes Donald Trump.

The Russians speak of the “power ministries,” the departments that have significant legal and coercive capacity. In the United States, those include the Justice Department, the Defense Department, the FBI, and the intelligence community. Trump has now named sycophants to lead each of these institutions, a move that eliminates important obstacles to his frequently-expressed desires to use the armed forces, federal law enforcement agents, intelligence professionals, and government lawyers as he chooses, unbounded by the law or the Constitution.

Whole article archived here »

Passing judgment on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was never going to be simple for the International Criminal Court

Arash Azizi, writing in The Atlantic »

Naama Lazimi, a progressive member of the Knesset, called Thursday “a sad day for Israel” and put the blame for the decision on Netanyahu, not the court. “This was unnecessary,” she wrote on X, adding that it could have been avoided if the Israeli government had undertaken an independent inquiry and pursued a settlement to end the war and return the hostages held by Hamas. “But Netanyahu chose and still chooses his own position and cynical and personal interests,” she concluded: “The Hague has come out against Netanyahu, Netanyahu against Israel.” The Israeli organization Peace Now has taken a similar position, blaming the country’s leadership.

The long-term interests of Israel and those of enthusiasts for international law need not diverge. As a small country with many ill-wishers, surrounded by militias that clamor for its destruction, Israel often feels itself under siege and classifies any action against it as an unforgivable betrayal. But the country owes much of its past success to its recognition under international law and its membership in the community of democratic nations. Illegally occupying the Palestinian territories, and disregarding competent international forums such as ICC, serve to undermine that status. A world where liberal democratic norms, such as respect for international legal institutions, are more prevalent will ultimately be a safer one for Israel, especially if it wishes to fulfill the dream of its founders to be a Jewish and democratic state.

The call from The Hague should thus be seen as an urgent message that the country needs to correct its course and step back from the campaign it has pursued since October 2023. True friends of Israel are not those who attempt to shield it from international justice. They are those who remind it that as a sovereign nation, it has the right to defend itself—but not the right to be immune from legal judgment.

Read the whole article in The Atlantic »

Jewish anti-Zionism in the U.S. and around the world

Anti-Zionist Jews have formed a large part of the protests across the United States, and indeed the world, against Israel’s war on Gaza.

In this Al Jazeera’s interview and Simone Zimmerman, co-founder, IfNotNow, a Jewish advocacy group which opposes the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, we hear of her own transition away from Zionism forms the core of the 2023 award-winning documentary, Israelism.


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More » Al Jazeera

Trump – the convicted felon and presumptive GOP nominee – vows to appeal guilty verdict in rambling speech after jury finds him guilty of 34 felonies

A Manhattan jury on May 30, 2024 found former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 felonies.

After only two-days of deliberation, a unanimous, 12-person jury in the New York case concluded that Trump was guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in an alleged scheme to cover up a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

While Trump is no longer legally allowed to possess firearms, and may no longer be allowed to vote, he remains the presumptive Republican nominee is still allowed to run for president of the United States.

» Mother Jones » Convicted felon rambles through greatest hits of grievances, falsehoods, and legal nonsense

» The Journal » ‘I’d like them to say, “gee, we have to have a little sorrow for this man”, because they just don’t say that about me.’

» BBC » Can Trump run for president as a convicted felon?

» The Guardian » After guilty verdict on 34 felony counts, Trump criticized the process in speech repeating falsehoods and conspiracy theories

» Globe and Mail » Trump launched into attacks on the judge in his criminal trial and continued to undermine New York’s criminal justice system Friday as he tried to repackage his conviction on 34 felony charges as fuel, not an impediment, to his latest White House bid.

» El País » Landmark ruling against Trump triggers unprecedented political earthquake

» Mother Jones » Trump loses a big battle in his lifelong war against accountability

More » Axios / NBC News / CNN / NPR / Politico

Trump is to be sentenced on July 11.

Israel National Security Adviser said the war in Gaza will continue for at least another seven months, the rest of the year

BBC »

“The fighting in Gaza will continue for at least another seven months,” the prime minister’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, told Israel’s Kan public radio.

He also said Israel’s military had taken control of 75% of the buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, as it pressed ahead with an assault on the southern city of Rafah.

Residents of Rafah meanwhile reported that there had been more Israeli air strikes and that tanks had mounted raids in central and western areas before retreating. »

Already, some 36,000 Palestinians, mostly children, women and non-combatants, have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli army since October 7, 2024. To date, the government of Israel has shown no intention of ceasing the genocidal actions against the innocent Palestinians, choosing instead to ignore the International Court of Justice order to stop its military operation in the Gaza city of Rafah.


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