This week on Opinio Juris, we continued last week’s book discussion of Laura Dickinson’s Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs, with Laura’s post on the role of organizational structure and institutional structure as a mechanism of accountability and constraint, and her response to Steve Vladeck and to the other commentators. In a guest...
Supporters of US ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty now have a network home, curiously called "The American Sovereignty Campaign." It seems to be a serious undertaking, counting the US Chamber of Commerce and the Pew Charitable Trusts among its members, running this polished ad in the print media. What of the use of "sovereignty" here? From the coalition's...
Ukraine and Honduras have initiated complaints at the World Trade Organization against Australia with respect to the latter's plain cigarette packaging rules. Neither country has much trade with Australia. (Ukrainian cigarettes? Doesn't sound very appealing!) So why bother? Because the cigarette companies are fronting legal costs. From Reuters: Both complainants have "requested consultations" with Australia, the first step in the WTO...
Amnesty International has condemned the United States for the Bin Laden raid, saying that it was unlawful. In response to Pakistan’s sentencing doctor Shakeel Afridi—complicit in helping the CIA track Osama Bin Laden—to 33 years in jail for treason, the US has cut aid by $33 million to Pakistan. Reuters reports that the Muslim Brotherhood is claiming an early lead in the Egyptian...
The Taliban has reportedly circulated poison in girls' classrooms in northern Afghanistan poisoning girls with toxic powder sent through the air shafts, leaving more than 120 students and teachers unconscious. Amnesty International launched a stinging accusation in its annual report (available here) at the UN Security Council, accusing the body of "failed leadership" and saying the Council is "tired, out of...
So says the WSJ's account of today's hearing on US ratification of UNCLOS. I still haven't found the 193 minutes I would need to watch today's UNCLOS hearing, but it seems like there is still some Republican opposition (remember it only takes 34 votes to block the treaty). Wednesday's hearing demonstrated the continued skepticism among Republicans toward the treaty. Sen. Robert...
Here is the website for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee with a (very long) video of the hearings on UNCLOS and the written testimony of Secretary of State Clinton, Defense Secretary Panetta, and Gen. Dempsey. I am in grading hell right now, so I haven't had time to go through the hearing video. It looks, from my quick glance, to be the...
The head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amono, has said that a deal with Iran is very close ahead of talks in Baghdad with the UK, the US, France, Russia, China and Germany. The junta that toppled the government six weeks ago in Guinea Bissau has reportedly handed back the government control to civilians. US President Barack Obama’s administration pushes for ratification of...
Iraq is buying US-made drones in order to carry out surveillance over their oil fields. After a suicide bomber kills 90 people in Yemen, al-Qaeda vows more attacks until the US-backed campaign against militants stops. The US is apparently weighing their stance on secrecy of the drone program employed to carry out targeted killings, according to the Wall Street Journal. Former dictator of...
[David Sloss is the Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Global Law and Policy at Santa Clara Law School] In Samantar v. Yousuf (2010), the Supreme Court directed lower courts to apply common law rules to resolve immunity defenses raised by individual foreign government officers, except in cases where a treaty provides the controlling rule. The Court remanded...
Sudan has freed four captured foreign workers, initially held for "spying" for South Sudan. AFP reports on gun battles between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in Beirut, triggering fears of spillovers of the Syrian conflict into Lebanon. A Voice of America blog post reports that the NATO's missile defense shield for Europe has entered "interim capability". The Associated Press has received footage from Israeli human rights...
This week on Opinio Juris, Chris Borgen posted about Peter Watts’ short story on the legal and ethical questions relating to the use of autonomous aerial combat drones; Julian Ku shared Cato Institute’s Walter Olson’s observations on the revolving door between the UN and the US legal academy; Kevin Heller gave an account of his PhD viva at Leiden; and...
