Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Washington Post’s Hirohito Moment

Posted on September 29, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell materially distorted reality in his testimony to Congress.

The milquetoast headline in The Washington Pravda Post is — brace yourself — Iraq Wiretap Delay Not Quite as Presented.

Not quite as presented!

Where have I heard something like that before? Hmmm….

Despite the best that has been done by everyone … the war situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage.”

– Emperor Hirohito, Radio Broadcast Announcing Japan’s Surrender, August 15, 1945

I'm actually starting to think Brad DeLong s right—surely the Post can't survive if it continues like this? If people want this sort of work, they might as well buy the Washington Times.

Posted in The Media | 1 Comment

Down We Go

Posted on September 29, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Glenn Greenwald, who seems from his writing to be both shrewd and decent, argues that at present there is no alternative to the politics of the lowest common denominator:

as the MoveOn vote demonstrated, we have the opposite of a healthy political system, and it is thus far preferable — for reasons I I set forth here — to ensure that a corrupt standard is applied equally rather than allow it to be applied by one political faction against another. Taking the corrupt political tactics wielded by the war-hungry Right and applying those same tactics to them (rather than ineffectively protesting the unfairness of the tactics) is the only way to ensure they cease.

Please persuade me he's not right.

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Down We Go

Farmers and Cowmen in Space

Posted on September 29, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Nate Combs at Terra Nova has written a really interesting post about economic and other relationships in Eve Online. It's at at My friend's keeper, and it reinforces my suspicion that while World of Warcraft is the bigger social phenom, with the largest bleed-over into art and ordinary life, Eve Online is the most interesting major game, both legally and structurally.

I'm not even going to try to quote from this one — if you're interested in Virtual Worlds (or political economy or political sociology) you should just go read it.

Update (12/8/07): And see the follow-up.

Posted in Virtual Worlds | Comments Off on Farmers and Cowmen in Space

Is the Palestinian Authority Sovereign Enough for Immunity?

Posted on September 28, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Interesting post at Opinio Juris asking Does the Palestinian Authority Enjoy Sovereign Immunity? which points to Biton v. Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority where the District Court had to address that very issue.

At what point is a governing authority of a territory sufficiently recognized as a state for it to enjoy immunity? If the Palestinian Authority is not a state why not? And if it is not a state what is it? The more comical (but nonetheless interesting) variation to this question is if the Palestinian Authority is not a state, is it an instrumentality of the state of Israel?

I'm not sure I'd say “comical” was the exact word, but these are interesting questions.

The court, incidentally, said the answer to the question, at this moment anyway, is “no sovereign immunity.” Which means in some cases the PA can be sued in US courts….

Posted in Law: International Law | 2 Comments

List of Miami Food Blogs

Posted on September 28, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Miami is a great food town. And here's a nice list of Miami food blogs (spotted via the cool and committed Critical Miami blog).

Posted in Miami | Comments Off on List of Miami Food Blogs

Hourly Updates on Burma/Myanmar

Posted on September 27, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Visit the Buddhist Channel for hourly updates on the situation in Burma/Myanmar.

Posted in Politics: International | Comments Off on Hourly Updates on Burma/Myanmar