Gerst class: International Criminal Court and Syria

For those of you interested in the issue we discussed in class today regarding the International Criminal Court. This is about Sudan, but it is of interest nonetheless.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/world/africa/sudan-bashir-international-criminal-court.html

"In cases where a suspected serious international criminal is a citizen of a country that is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, the court must obtain a referral from the U.N. Security Council. But if it were to seek to indict Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, for instance, it would be dependent on the politics of the permanent, veto-wielding powers, such as Mr. Assad’s Russian and Chinese allies."  
http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2015/12/09/mission-impossible

For those of you interested in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission idea we discussed in class as applied in South Africa at the end of apartheid (legally imposed, political, economic and cultural segregation of whites and blacks in South Africa), the below looks back on the experience of the T&RC:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adst/south-africas-truth-and-r_b_8581506.html

And most relevant to what we are studying, given the unit we just concluded (Absolutism and Constitutionalism) and the unit we've just begun (Scientific Revolution and Englightenmwnt), the below article discusses how countries succeed or fail at the transition from dictatorship to democracy:

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21679178-how-make-most-difficult-political-transition-alland-how-not-slip-back

EMAIL MS. GERST TO CONFIRM YOUR TICKET BY END OF THE DAY FRIDAY.  LEARN WHAT EXPERTS THINK ABOUT SYRIA AND THE GLOBAL REFUGEE CRISIS. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has invited us to attend a panel discussion that will bring together Lina Sergie Attar, CEO of the Karram Foundation, Cameron Hudson, Director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide (United States Holocaust Memorial Foundation), Gregory Maniatis, Advisor to the United Nations Special Representative for Migration, and Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago on Tuesday, December 8th from 6:00-7:15 p.m. at the Standard Club in downtown Chicago.   As usual, a bus will pick us up in front of Blaine Hall at 5:00 p.m. and return us to school after the program.  You may also travel to and from the program on your own.  See Ms. Shapiro (UH 105), Ms. Gerst, (UH 106) or Ms. Martonffy (S222) immediately for further information and to receive a permission form.