A fine article today by my Princeton colleague Gary Bass in the Washington Post on the implications of a U.N. Prosecutor pursuing the perpetrator of a single murder with great political significance, as compared to the International Criminal Court and other ad hoc tribunals' focus on perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity. Is it a powerful new lever for the U.N. or an initiative soon to stall in the face of power politics as usual?

On another topic, I published a book review yesterday of Moises Naim's book Illicit, which is an important wake-up call to the dangers of illicit trade. A while back I promised (but didn't deliver) on a comparison of Condi Rice's and Michael Chertoff's speeches at the Woodrow Wilson School's 75th Anniversary Kick-Off: the gist was that when Rice talked about multilateralism she meant war or diplomacy with our allies at our side; when Chertoff talked about multilateralism he meant the countless ongoing networks of U.S. government officials with their counterparts abroad. Illicit shows just how important those networks are, but also that we need much more than that even to make a dent in the underside of globalization.

Following up on Jim's post on the impact of U.S. aid to earthquake victims in Pakistan, a colleague of mine,Robert Keohane, received the following letter from a Pakistani former student of his. It raises the question why we do not seize the opportunity, as we did in 1948, to do something that simultaneously advances humanitarian and strategic objectives.

Dr. Keohane,

I hope all is well.  

I have been in Pakistan for the past three weeks in an earthquake related family emergency.  The situation is, as per any and all analyses, profoundly dire.  The statistics speak for themselves, both in terms of the damage done and the lives lost, but more importantly, for the people still at risk (at least 3.5 million).  By UN estimates, the relief challenge is three times that of the tsunami.

As we have discussed, my family is actively involved in social and development work in Northern Pakistan; I myself have spent much time working in the region.  I am writing to you because, having just visited the region and spoken to many community leaders across the NWFP and Pakistani-held Kashmir, it is apparent that there is a tremendous strategic opportunity for the United States and its allies.  For a fraction of the cost of what is spent in other arenas of the War on Terror, an extremely volatile region and country's hearts and minds can be won over.  All that is required is a very substantial, very visible US relief effort.

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