This week on Opinio Juris, we continued a few conversations from last week. Kevin Jon Heller clarified his argument about the retroactive acceptance of the ICC's jurisdiction, and challenged the assumption that Palestine was not a state before last week's UNGA vote. Deborah Pearlstein advanced three reasons for the importance of Jeh Johnson's recent speech on the conditions for calling an...
In the NYTimes.com's Room for Debate forum, I offer reasons for supporting U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Unlike most supporters (like a certain Comedy Central personality), I don't think the opponents are crazy nutcases. (For a more sensible, but less amusing take, take a look at co-blogger Peter Spiro's contribution to the...
The U.S. government has been making all sorts of official and unofficial threats to act if the Syrian government uses chemical weapons in its ongoing civil war. (CBS News) Whether the U.S. enters the war in Syria appears to be up to the dictator Bashir al-Assad. On Monday, CBS News reported the Assad regime had given orders to prepare chemical weapons for...
Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez will miss Friday’s regional trade summit in Brazil, raising questions about his health. US warships are shifting in order to monitor the planned rocket launch by North Korea, while the US still urges Pyongyang to cancel this exercise. Violence has surged around Damascus as Syrian government forces shell rebel-controlled areas. The UN Special Envoy for Syria held discussions with...
In case you missed it, Jon Stewart at his best on the Senate's rejection on Tuesday of the Disabilities Convention: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook The floor debate on the CRPD can be found in the Congressional Record here, starting at page S7365. Not very edifying reading on...
Russia has heavily criticized the ICTY for its verdict last week acquitting three, calling the work of the Court careless and ineffective. Iran's media reports its military has claimed to have extracted data from the US drone it captured earlier in the week, proving the US was spying on Iran. A US drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan. Despite international...
[Jonathan Hafetz is an Associate Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School and was previously a senior attorney at the ACLU’s National Security Project. He has served as counsel in numerous national security detention cases, including al-Marri v. Spagone.] The U.S. Senate last week approved an amendment to the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) introduced by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA)...
A WTO Arbitrator has ruled that the reasonable period of time for the US to comply with the requirements in the US-COOL decision expires 10 months from the day the Panel and Appellate Body reports were adopted. Angry crowds surrounded the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, to protest President Morsi's recent decision to extend his own power, causing the President to leave the palace...
Story here on how the CRPD went down. The tally was 61-38, five votes short of the two-thirds necessary for approval. On the one hand, the defeat demonstrates sovereigntism's staying power. The anti-internationalist Right has been energized by a flight of treaties baring the putative menace of global governance -- the Law of the Sea, the Arms Trade Treaty, and the Convention...
The US has criticized Israel's decision to expand settlements in the E1 area, following the UNGA's decision to grant Palestine non-member state status. Five European countries (France, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Spain) and the Australian government has also summoned the Israeli ambassador in protest. Despite the criticism, Israel plans to move ahead with the settlement construction. More analysis about the effect of...
The phenomenon of land grabbing involves powerful transnational economic actors, including corporations, national governments, sovereign wealth funds, and private equity funds, that have searched for empty lands in distant countries that can serve as sites for fuel and food production in the event of future price spikes. Typically, the foreign investors enter long-term leases with national governments for 25 or 50...
Syrian forces have pounded rebel-held areas of Damascus, trying to keep them away from the airport so flights can resume. After last Thursday's decision from the ICTY Appeals Chamber, acquitting former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and two others, Kosovo’s government has demanded an investigation into the actions of the lead prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, accusing her of abuse of power and filing unfounded...
