Weekend Roundup

Here's your first-ever weekend roundup, giving you the latest on what's happening with recently-discussed issues and other important international law matters. If there's something else you'd like to see addressed in the Roundup, leave a comment.

With that being said...

• New START: Still moving forward, but with a little less hope of passage (at least from this observer) than before. Apparently the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell has gotten some on the right side of the aisle a bit upset. Also, a few Republican amendments (which, if successful, would have required further negotiations with the Russians) to the treaty have been defeated. My thoughts? I know it's a political time in Washington and both sides have played games with a bunch of issues. Still, this one doesn't make a lot of sense - as the newfound recalcitrance has been justified in large part by the DADT repeal. If New START = good for national security before the DADT repeal, then it should still = good for national security post-DADT repeal. Unless GLBTQ folk have some sort of magical power I'm unaware of...

• UN attempts to diffuse rising tensions between North and South Korea have failed, and Kim Jong-il's crew is promising fireworks if the South goes ahead with planned military exercises. Crimes of aggression? Not according to these parties. The North claims that the recent shelling of a South Korean island came in response to aggressive actions by the South, while the South makes the same claim in regards to the planned military exercises. While Russia and China have urged Seoul to reconsider, the US supports the planned exercises as "fully consistent with South Korea's legal right to self-defense." Primer on the whole affair here...

• Lest you thought the Korean peninsula was the only place with rising tensions and international law implications, trouble is also brewing in Africa with fears of regional conflict escalating in the Ivory Coast. Tensions stemming from a highly contentious election have led to fears of violence. Thousands have begun fleeing into neighboring Liberia, disputed president Laurent Gbagbo's government has ordered the UN to leave, and several UN peacekeepers have been killed. The UN however, insists that its forces will remain in the Ivory Coast and that attacks on UN forces will be seen as "an attack on the international community."

• On a more general note, check out OpinioJuris for a discussion about the international law-implications of WikiLeaks.