While it's difficult at best to evaluate the truth of Iran's claims about its weapons development, this latest story struck me as both plausible and relevant to the ongoing debate about international law rules governing targeted drone strikes. "Iranian military leaders gave details of a new long-range drone and test fired four anti-ship missiles Tuesday in a prelude to upcoming naval...
Two explosions have occurred near Syrian military headquarters in Damascus. Hours before these two explosions, a Qatari emir said that Arabs must intervene in Syria in the absence of Security Council action. Foreign Policy offers an insight into a report about the torture tactics used by the government of Syria and their effects on children--sometimes with the children being the victims of the...
As Ken already pointed out in his post, the UN General Assembly meeting officially opens today in New York. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi have met in New York to improve US-Egypt relations and to discuss embassy security following the riots after the controversial anti-Islam video. It's getting busy around the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, with Taiwanese fishermen and the Coast Guard briefly...
With UN meetings underway, here are a couple of links discussing leading issues on the table. Everyone agrees that Syria leads the list, but pretty much everyone also agrees that it leads the list of things unlikely to be resolved or pushed materially to a resolution. Neal MacFarquhar, the NYT UN correspondent, puts it this way in today's Times, quoting...
Leaders of Sudan and South Sudan met late Sunday to discuss borders and oil exports peace negotiations between the two countries have not yet finalized, with a breakthrough in security negotiations not yet reached. Syria's internal opposition met in Damascus amid airstrikes calling for a cessation of hostilities. A day after China called off celebrations on the 40th anniversary of Japanese-Chinese relations, it has...
After a blogging hiatus over the summer due to some family medical issues - all happily resolved - I am moving back to posting on a regular basis. I've missed posting and hanging out with the OJ community online. I've been only fitfully been following posts here, or for that matter most of the global news, and I've decided not...
This week on Opinio Juris, we posted Harold Koh's speech on international law in cyberspace, delivered earlier this week, as part of our efforts to make important international law speeches more readily available. The decision by the Obama administration to requalify the tragic events in Libya on September 11 as a terrorist attack rather than a spontaneous reaction provides a further basis,...
[Robyn Curnow is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland. She works as a lawyer in Melbourne.] Reactions to the prosecution and sentencing of three members of Pussy Riot in August this year have revealed sharp disparities in the ways different countries’ legal systems protect peoples’ religious sensibilities. What they have also exposed is a spectrum...
A Syrian airstrike has killed at least 54 amid heavy fighting in northern Syria. At a UN Security Council meeting, Iran was attacked about the aid it is providing to Syria's government forces. At the IAEA's meeting in Geneva, Iran and Israel squared off about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East region. The US has lifted a ban on New Zealand naval ships...
Amnesty International reports that Syrian civilians are under "relentless" and "indiscriminate" attacks from Syrian forces. In news about the anti-Islam flim, The Innocence of Muslims, Saudi Arabia has demanded that YouTube shut down access to the film within its borders; an actress in the film is suing the director and YouTube for fraud, slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress; UN Secretary...
Yesterday, Harold Koh, the Legal Adviser of the U.S. State Department, spoke at the U.S. Cyber Command Inter-Agency Legal Conference on the applicability of international law to cyberspace and, particularly, cyberwar/ cyberconflict. For a couple of takes on the speech, see the Washington Post here and Defense News, here. In our ongoing efforts to make full-text presentations of international...
Syrian rebel forces clash with government troops near the Turkish border as UN envoy says the Syrian crisis is worsening. According to diplomats, Sudan and South Sudan have made progress on reaching a border deal. Iraq has re-opened its border to refugees from Syria, but is excluding young men from entry for security reasons. The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that UK...
