Recently, the US national security adviser, John Bolton, denounced the International Criminal Court and threatened that if its judges probed war crimes by the United States, they would be liable to arrest and sanctions. To many people this was a broadside against international justice, serving to place Washington above the law.
It would be easy to limit such base intentions to the United States. However, in September, halfway around the world, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was entering its final proceedings. The message from that experience also showed to an extent that justice is not a priority of other states, or for that matter of international organisations.
The Special Tribunal was established by the United Nations to try those responsible for the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in 2005. It is an anomaly: a mixed Lebanese-international court that applies both Lebanon’s criminal code as well as laws relating to terrorism. Strictly speaking, it is not there to apply international law, but was set up under international auspices to stand above a Lebanese justice system that is vulnerable to political pressure.
In that sense, the Special Tribunal was partly the product of a specific era of politics that existed at the end of the 20th century, in which the view prevailed that international laws and norms of conduct could gain prominence in governing internal state and inter-state relations, regardless of sovereignty. If so, that ambition was blindsided by reality. From the very start, the Special Tribunal was marred by the shortcomings of the investigation into Hariri's killing that served as the basis for its indictments.
The principal problem is that the second commissioner of the UN investigation − a Belgian judge named Serge Brammertz – did not advance significantly in his investigation between 2006 and 2008. This was a crucial moment in the investigation, as it then still had UN Security Council authority and the momentum to compel suspects to sit and offer testimony. Yet Mr Brammertz did almost nothing during that time, a fact confirmed by several people who worked with him.
Even the most sensitive aspect of the crime − analysis of the perpetrators’ communications − was left to the Lebanese. Working in 2006 and 2007, a Lebanese security officer named Wissam Eid uncovered a web of telephone calls between the conspirators. It was only near the end of his term, in October 2007, that Mr Brammertz decided to bring in a British data company that confirmed that Eid − who was himself assassinated in January 2008 − had laid bare the tangle of data that connected the closed circle of assassins.
Yet what price did Mr Brammertz pay for failing to advance the investigation? He was promoted to the post of prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In certain judicial circles, the view was that he was a careerist who, in order to gain personal advancement, would deliberately avoid rocking the boat. It appears that when Mr Brammertz took the job in Beirut, he knew that the UN “did not want another trouble spot”. After all, those were the very words used by then UN secretary general Kofi Annan in 2005 to warn Mr Brammertz’s predecessor Detlev Mehlis.
That is not to say that Annan sought a cover-up, but Mr Brammertz likely understood that slowing the investigation to a snail's pace would neutralise it, and that the mood at the UN was such that no one would protest. Indeed, when Hezbollah became a suspect in the crime, there was even further motivation to proceed carefully, for fear it may provoke a conflict between Lebanese Sunnis and Shia.
The ensuing legal process suffered because of Mr Brammertz’s lack of effort. When the Special Tribunal finally issued an indictment in 2011, it relied on the telecommunications analysis initially carried out by Eid. None of the four men indicted were ever arrested. Nor did prosecutors have detailed witness testimony pointing to the suspects. This made for an indictment built on circumstantial evidence, glaring in its failure to offer a motive for the crime. The indictment so irked the current prosecutor, Norman Farrell, that he sought to tighten it later on.
The big loser, however, was Lebanon, which had paid millions of dollars for an outcome mired in ambiguity. But what was most remarkable was how the UN had allowed the process to drift to the point of near-irrelevance. The primary result was not exposing the guilty, but a process that had stagnated to the point that the suspects either had plenty of time to get away or were killed. Although their deaths could not be directly linked to the Hariri assassination, this was the case with one of the indicted men, Mustapha Badreddine, as well as two of Syria’s principal intelligence officers in Lebanon in 2005, Rustom Ghazaleh and Jameh Jameh.
Some may write this off as a simple case of bureaucratic inertia on the part of the UN, but Annan’s revealing comment and Mr Brammertz’s elevation suggest something much deeper. Pursuing justice can cause political problems, and problems are precisely what the UN is supposed to avoid or, at least, manage. Also, at a time when states are more protective of their sovereign rights than ever, the idea of ceding autonomy to independent bodies is thoroughly unpopular.
So, while Mr Bolton may embody American arrogance and disdain for international justice, he is in good company. As the Special Tribunal showed, there is more than one way to ensure that the guilty go unpunished.
Michael Young is editor of Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East programme, in Beirut
The%20specs
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Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
Maestro
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBradley%20Cooper%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBradley%20Cooper%2C%20Carey%20Mulligan%2C%20Maya%20Hawke%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Sam Smith
Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Veere di Wedding
Dir: Shashanka Ghosh
Starring: Kareena Kapoo-Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania
Verdict: 4 Stars
Ronaldo's record at Man Utd
Seasons 2003/04 - 2008/09
Appearances 230
Goals 115
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Crazy Rich Asians
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
Four stars
