Best Alternative to Blue Book Forum

[BillsFan9907]

What is the best alternative to the blue book?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Doesn't the second paragraph refer specifically to the Contras being dependent on the US for crucial/most significant military/paramilitary activities? So presumably it wasn't dependent for non-crucial/significant military/paramilitary activities and for non-military/paramilitary activities? I.e., "the great majority of contra activities" is broader than "crucial or most significant military and paramilitary activities"? Just a guess.

[BillsFan9907]

thanks for the input.

[ph14]

You really need to provide some more context here.

[A. Nony Mouse]

It's just poorly written and isn't making its various time periods clear. The beginning of para. 110 (which you haven't included) suggests to me that the basic point is this: during the period when the US provided direct military aid to the contras, the contras were dependent on the US for this aid. But once that direct aid ended, contra activity continued, so the court can't find that the contras were basically the same as US forces. Then the court concludes that although at one period (presumably the period of direct military aid) the contras depended on the US such that they couldn't conduct military/paramilitary activity, the parties haven't been able to provide direct proof that all contra activities (presumably not just military activities) in that period sustained that kind of support from the US. ("Contra force" before the bolded bit in your quote may refer to military specifically?) It all seems to be part of the larger question about what degree of dependency by the contras/control by the US would be sufficient to conclude that the contras were simply an arm of the US, not an independent organization/entity being helped by the US. And the court seems to conclude that although the contra forces were not simply an arm of the US government, the US had a degree of control over those forces.

Every ICJ opinion I've read has been hard to understand. My guess is it's because the judges are international and so come out of different linguistic traditions (I presume they all speak English and/or French, since they're the official languages, but still).

[BillsFan9907]

Thanks - super insightful!