The wonderful team at the National Security Archives (NSA) are supporting the numerous FOIA requests I have on the boil for the book. While I am just following Darfur, they manage to keep tabs on everything you can imagine. Each week they lodge multiple requests in the public interest, and keep chasing them until they […]
Interviewing Colin Powell this morning
April 21, 2009 by Leave a Comment
In D.C. now. Really looking forward to this interview. Alas no time for a podcast – sorry all. I’m trying to pin John Bolton down for one later in the week.
Hunger Strike for Darfur
April 19, 2009 by Leave a Comment
On dodgy airport computer in terminal at Heathrow on way to Chicago and just got this statement through from Mia Farrow. She is leading a hunger strike in solidarity with those who are facing shortages of food and water as a result of the GOS expulsions of humanitarian organizations. Her goal is that leaders pressure the GOS […]
Upcoming events
April 17, 2009 by Leave a Comment
I’m heading back to the U.S. next week for a couple of events – and to squeeze in some more interviews whilst I’m at it. For anyone in Chicago or D.C., here are the details: Inaugural Symposium of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center April 20, 11am “Past & Present: Media and Legal Perspectives […]
Careful what you start . . .
April 15, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday I told you that while churning through documents declassified through FOIA can be frustrating, you do occasionally come across a few gems. An example: In a demarche sent by the State Department to the US embassy in Senegal on February 11, 2005, the talking points to be used in trying to convince the Senegalese […]
FOIA: one of the tools for uncovering Darfur policy
April 14, 2009 by 1 Comment
The U.S. has this wonderful piece of legislation called the Freedom of Information Act – commonly known as FOIA. Through it, people can request to have government documents made publicly available – subject to certain exceptions. Those who assess the requests made under FOIA have discretion to balance the competing interests of transparent government with […]
If you were in Sudan, you couldn’t see this
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Friends of mine in Sudan have been emailing to tell me that this website is not accessible. People who are trying to submit questions from inside Sudan get told that the page cannot be displayed. Given the range of sites that are still accessible inside Sudan right now, I’m not willing to assume I’ve been […]
Update on podcasts
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Thanks to those of you who have started submitting some really thoughtful questions for my upcoming interviewees. My interview with the ICC Prosecutor is scheduled for April 27, so I should have the podcast of your questions up and out to you about 24 hours after that.
Taylor is not being tried by the ICC!
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
What is so difficult to understand about this?? Yes it is true that the trial of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, is taking place at one of the ICC’s courtrooms in The Hague – but he is being tried by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The Christian Science Monitor is the object of my […]
Mamdani’s inaccuracies [a.k.a. “Are we really expected to fact check every detail of a book like this? “]
You can call my indignation naive – but I just don’t think it’s that unreasonable to expect that a book, published by no less reputable an organization than Random House, could have been put through a fact-checking process before going to print. On Monday I was speaking about international law at the opening of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education […]