The agonizing close presidential race in the U.S. has made everyone on edge about election day problems at the polls. This may explain why the State of Texas has decided to pick a fight with the election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), threatening to arrest election observers who interfere with the upcoming November 6 elections. Texas...
Japan claims that four new Chinese ships have appeared in the territorial waters related to the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute. The African Union has reinstated Mali to the organization while stating it was planning an intervention against Islamist fighters in the north of the country, a plan that will be ready within weeks. The Syrian government has indicated to Russia that it will...
In his August 9, 2012 report, the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, makes the claim that there is an emerging norm that the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Mendez acknowledges that international law does not prohibit the death penalty, but notes it does encourage its elimination. Specifically, his report states: "there is an evolving standard whereby states...
More than 50 rockets have been fired from the Gaza strip into South Israel,an Israeli officer was wounded in the exchange of fire, and one Palestinian was killed when Israel launched rockets back into Gaza. Senior Japanese and Chinese diplomats met last week to discuss the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. The US is finding itself at both ends of two new WTO disputes after the WTO Dispute Settlement...
Julian beat me to discussing Romney's statement last night that, if elected, he would “make sure that Ahmadinejad is indicted under the Genocide Convention. His words amount to genocide incitation" (what we ICL scholars call "direct and public incitement to genocide"). I disagree with Julian, however, that Ahmadinejad could not be prosecuted in the United States. Pursuant to the Genocide...
Contra Peter, there was one indisputable reference to international law in last night's U.S. presidential debate. Mitt Romney repeated his argument that Iran's president should be indicted for inciting genocide. This idea has spawned quite a bit of reaction, especially from the lefty blogosphere. One typical reaction, from Greg Sargent, suggests that Romney is turning his back on his famously...
I've long wondered whether and when the American Law Institute (ALI) might try to update its 3rd Restatement on the Foreign Relations Law of the United States. Since its 1987 publication, the two-volume set, culled together under the leadership of Professor Lou Henkin, has had a tremendous impact. It has been a frequent resource for U.S. courts and American international...
Let's just say international law was not a fulcrum in last night's debate. It's not like the topic was being discriminated against -- many important topics were ignored. (Among them the Eurozone crisis, climate change, cyberwar, NATO, anything much of Asia beyond China, Mexico or Canada.) Bob Scheiffer asked a question about drones, which Romney answered by agreeing with the...
Iran has said it may stop oil production if Western sanctions tighten. The United Kingdom will double the number of drones it has in Afghanistan for combat and surveillance missions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany could take part in assisting a European mission to Mali that would train troops to fight Islamist insurgents in the north of the country. Former US...
Children and armed conflict or “CAAC” (as the unharmonious acronym goes), has become a controversial area of activity for the UN Security Council. Although the Security Council has adopted a series of important resolutions on the topic since 2005, its most recent foray into the fray led to four abstentions to Resolution 2068. Azerbaijan, China, Pakistan and Russia declined to support...
Kevin and I have still never met in person, but we've already had our first twitter encounter last week on the legality of a U.S. military response to the attacks that killed the U.S. Ambassador in Libya (as well as three other Americans). Although the news reports on the attacks are not exactly clear, some have suggested that there is...
With all the 50th anniversary retrospectives, seems like a good time to revisit Abram Chayes' foreign relations law classic, The Cuban Missile Crisis: International Crises and the Role of Law. Chayes was the State Department Legal Adviser in October 1962, on leave from Harvard Law School; though Chayes was a participant in deliberations around the crisis, the book wears its...
