International justice, local injustices

The new issue of Middle East Report is out and looks at the impact of US and Israeli policy in the Middle East on principles of international law, Morocco's past, Jordan's opposition, 9/11 and culture, Edward Said and more:

In the 1990s, the arrest of Pinochet and the trial of Milosevic seemed to herald a new era of accountability for crimes committed by state actors, and the possibility of building a global order underwritten by international law and norms of human rights. The September 11 attacks dealt a tremendous blow to these hopes, as the US and other states reasserted the primacy of realpolitik. Meanwhile, particularly in the Middle East, attempts to hold state actors accountable for past abuses have been thwarted or coopted by power politics. The winter 2003 issue of Middle East Report, "International Justice, Local Injustices," tackles the problem that, generally peaking, international law has force equivalent to the political power pushing for its enforcement.