Really, Alan Dershowitz?

The very idea of the UN Council conducting an “independent” or objective investigation of Israel is preposterous. It would be as if an all white Mississippi court were investigating a black man’s self-defense in response to years of lynchings by whites and limiting its investigation to the event following the lynchings.

Comparing the situation in Palestine to the Holocaust is not okay. But neither is calling an independent UN investigation, led by a veteran dismantler of South African apartheid, whom even the slimy Dershowitz calls “a good man,” the equivalent of a racist court that protected whites from prosecution for lynchings. And, if I recall my American history, I don’t believe African-Americans in the South had quite the recourse to military power as does the state of Israel.

John Oliver (no, not that one) has written a short paper for the U.S. Coast Guard arguing why the United States should ratify the Law of the Sea treaty.  Citizens for Global Solutions’ Lydia Dennett sums it up:

Oliver then goes on to discuss the many ways that the Law of Sea benefits the U.S. One of the biggest is National Security. This law would provide resources necessary for fighting the global war on terrorism and protecting our military power overseas. As this is one of the most important issues for the United States it is surprising that this law has not been ratified. Oliver also discusses environmental and economic advantages as well as the war on drugs. The Law of the Sea would give the US territorial claims to the 200 nautical miles on its coast which would help the control of drug trafficking.

UPDATE: Via Josh Keating, Dave Weigel reports what Mark suggested last week: that the fight over Harold Koh’s confirmation might presage a battle over the Law of the Sea (and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty).