After weeks of attempts to denigrate it and remove it from circulation, the Goldstone Report on the conduct of Israel & Hamas in the Gaza War has fought back a bit.
Former US ambassador Richard Schifter has assessed that, although there is no threat that the United Nations Security Council will take Israel to the International Criminal Court, there may be economic sanctions because of a paragraph in the Goldstone Report. This refers to a UN provision, “Uniting for Peace”, stating that if the Security Council does not order action to be taken, members of the General Assembly may pursue voluntary, collective action:
The Mission recommends that the General Assembly request the Security Council to report to it on measures taken with regard to ensuring accountability for serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights in relation to the facts in this report and any other relevant facts in the context of the military operations in Gaza, including the implementation of the Mission’s recommendations. The General Assembly may remain appraised of the matter until it is satisfied that appropriate action is taken at the domestic or international level in order to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators. The GA may consider whether additional action within its powers is required in the interests of justice, including under resolution 377 (V) Uniting for Peace.
Resolves that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of intermitional peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or aqt of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restare international peace and security. If not in session at the.time, the General Assembly may meet in emergency special session within twenty-four hours of the request therefor. Such emer- gency special session shall be called if requested by the Security Council on the yote of any seven members, or by a majority of the Members of the United Nations;
The resolution was first drafted to allow UN countries to wage war against North Korea in 1950 after a Soviet veto in the Security Council. It was also used to impose economic sanctions against the apartheid South African regime in 1982.
HARRY SMITH: Madam Secretary, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.
CLINTON: Thank you, Harry.
SMITH: The president said, about this secret facility that’s been uncovered in Iran, that it is inconsistent with a peaceful nuclear program. What does the United States think this secret facility is for?
CLINTON: Well, we believe that it is a covert facility designed for uranium enrichment. It has not been disclosed. And therefore it raises additional suspicions about the Iranian intent regarding their nuclear program. Read the rest of this entry »
KING: I want to begin with the economy. I get out of Washington every week for the show, and we’re in Connecticut and Rhode Island this week. And I knew I was going to be seeing you, so I asked 20 people: “What would you ask if you had the privilege that I have at this moment?” Eighteen of the twenty, eighteen, asked a variation of…
Apologies for not mincing words, but the US in the midst of a sustained public-relations effort to whitewash the torture stain of the Bush Administration by 1) arguing that it wasn’t torture and 2) if it was, it helped win the War on Terror. After the release this week of the damning 2004 CIA internal report on the Administration’s authorisation of torture and its ineffectiveness, Dick Cheney has been at the front of the campaign to save his legacy, if not America’s standing in the world. Fox News set him with the softball questions this morning.
(An important side note for Iran-watchers. Check out the passage late in the transcript where Cheney comes out as a strong supporter of an airstrike on Iran in 2007-8):
CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: Mr. Vice President, welcome back to “FOX News Sunday.”
RICHARD CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It’s good to be back, Chris.
WALLACE: This is your first interview since Attorney General Holder named a prosecutor to investigate possible CIA abuses of terror detainees.
What do you think of that decision?
CHENEY: I think it’s a terrible decision. President Obama made the announcement some weeks ago that this would not happen, that his administration would not go back and look at or try to prosecute CIA personnel. And the effort now is based upon the inspector general’s report that was sent to the Justice Department five years ago, was completely reviewed by the Justice Department in years past. Read the rest of this entry »
National Security Advisor James Jones is doing overtime today as the Obama Administration’s foreign policy salesman. He’s been interviewed on three of the top Sunday morning politics chat shows: Meet the Press, Fox News Sunday (transcript in a separate entry), and Face the Nation (transcript in a separate entry). The topics covered are the same: this week’s release of two American journalists from North Korea, the possible assassination of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, and engagement with Iran.
And it’s a triple dose of nothingness, with little of significance being said. To be fair to Jones, that’s because of the appalling simplistic media narrative. On North Korea, it’s sentimental “Yay, We Got Americans Out of an Evil Place” vs. “Oh, No, We Cut a Deal to Get Americans Out of an Evil Place”. The Mehsud case becomes a Boy’s Own story of daring American operations (even though no American would have been physically present, even in the air above, when the unmanned drone fired its missile), obscuring the problems in Pakistan that will last beyond — and possibly be magnified — by the killing. And Iran? Both the media and Obama Administration are in the side alley of the nuclear programme issue.
DAVID GREGORY: General James Jones, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.
GEN. JAMES JONES (RET.): Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
MR. GREGORY: Big news; North Korea, the two American journalists back home. This was the scene as it played out in Los Angeles on Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton accompanying the two journalists back home. He has since come back east and you have been able to fully debrief him. What can you say you have now learned about North Korea and specifically Kim Jong Il? Read the rest of this entry »
CHRIS WALLACE: General, welcome to “FOX News Sunday.”
JONES: Thank you, Chris. Good to be here.
WALLACE: Is Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban inside Pakistan, dead?
JONES: Well, we think so. The Pakistani government has believed — believes that he is, and all evidence that we have suggests that. But there are reports from the Mehsud organization that he’s not. But we think — we think that it looks like he is. Read the rest of this entry »
The transcript of the interview with General James Jones, President Obama’s National Security Advisor, on CBS News’ Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:
BOB SCHIEFFER: And good morning again, General Jones is in the studio with us this morning.
Thank you very much for coming, General. You went to Afghanistan back in June, you took reporter Bob Woodward along on the trip and afterwards he reported that you told the commanders there they would have to make due with what they had. Yet every day brings a new report that General McChrystal, the top American commander on the ground there, is preparing a new assessment and it appears that he is going to ask for more troops.
We hear that from various people, Anthony Cordesman from CSIS is just back from there. He says we have set impossible goals. We set impossible time frames. He says you are going to have to have more resources.
Are you getting ready to consider putting more troops into Afghanistan?
JONES: We — first of all, it is a pleasure to be with you, thank you very much for having me. The fact is — and I’ll get to my remarks on what the intention was, but the fact is that in March, we announced a very comprehensive strategy that everybody participated in. Read the rest of this entry »
After weeks of attempts to denigrate it and remove it from circulation, the Goldstone Report on the conduct of Israel & Hamas in the Gaza War has fought back a bit.
HARRY SMITH: Madam Secretary, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.
KING: Mr. President, thank you for joining us.
CHRIS WALLACE: General, welcome to “FOX News Sunday.”
Entries (RSS)