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04 Sep More on the Syria AUMF
...about what exactly it means “weapons of mass destruction.” The definition of the term is no small matter. The Senate would authorize the President to use military force “he determines to be necessary and appropriate in a limited and tailored manner against legitimate military targets in Syria, only to respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction by the Syrian government in the conflict in Syria,” to deter Syria’s use of such weapons, and to degrade Syria’s capacity to use those weapons in the future. What are “weapons of...25 Jan Guest Post: A Response to Kevin Jon Heller
...using the term “lawfare,” although for different reasons than those Kevin noted. Now I realize I should’ve given this comment more thought, but at the same time I’m very pleased to have helped generate the side-discussion over Kevin’s use of the term “bravery,” which is fascinating in itself. In my original post I wrote that “lawfare” is a Palestinian prerogative, and therefore I clearly think that it’s both politically and legally legitimate, and so I can’t think that it has such negative connotations as Kevin apparently thinks I do. In...
21 Nov To Which Transition and Justice to Whom? Towards Recognition of Transitional Justice in Israeli Case Law
...property right of both sides arose. These competing rights have led to numerous litigation in front of the court and were accompanied by heated political debates and violence between the sides – the Jewish and Palestinian owners of the houses. In this judgment, the court ruled that the Palestinian owners of the land can remain on their property, and thus halted an eviction. Nonetheless, this situation is temporary, until the land ownership question will be fully understood, in the regular process. Thus, the long-term consequences of the decision are yet...
31 Mar ‘Responsible AI’ in the Military Domain: Implications for Regulation
...security and warfare. Defining Responsible AI in the military is therefore also a complex process. It is much more than a catch-all term used for political declarations. As argued by Vincent Boulanin and Dustin Lewis, the concept of Responsible AI so far “appears to be more or less an empty shell”. Only a few states have published guidelines and clarifications on what they consider to be responsible applications of AI and autonomy in the military. Research by UNIDIR demonstrates that “the global AI policy landscape is still at a nascent...15 Dec Update from Copenhagen
Monday, December 14 – The climate negotiations ground to a halt for much of today, as negotiators debated the organization of work for the second and final week of the meeting. The ostensible cause of the breakdown was concern among (some?) developing countries that the Kyoto Protocol (KP) track in the negotiations is moving more slowly, and getting less attention, than the Convention track (the so-called Long-Term Cooperation Action track, or LCA) (although since the LCA track is itself moving very slowly, it is a bit difficult to understand the...08 Feb Targeting and the Concept of “Intent”
...there differences between common law and civil law trained lawyers involved in these negotiations? This is a complicated question, especially since the preceding analysis, if it teaches us anything, teaches us that one cannot assume that each reference to the term “intent” – or any similar term – means the same thing. Different people mean different things when they talk the language of intent. Ironically, comparative analysis because more difficult, not less difficult, when the participants are using the same terms. When they are using different terms, one can safely...08 Aug The Problem with Peru’s Armed Conflict Debate: Some Comments On My Recently Published Book
...to use the language of conflict instead, the TRC was whitewashing its crimes. The stage was set for what would become Peru’s most enduring political debate in the 21st century: what happened in the 80s and 90? Armed Conflict? Or Terrorism? Of course, the premise of the debate itself are mistaken. Armed conflict is a legal term that determines the application of IHL. Terrorism is a crime that can be committed both in times of armed conflict or in times of peace. Sources are absolutely clear on this. One does...07 Oct Prematurely Jumping From the Global Financial Crisis to the End of the World as We Know It
...the same powers that the Fed has to deal with a liquidity crisis – the ability to flood the system with liquidity in order to persuade the public that there is a lender of last resort willing to lend. (The problem for the ECB as well as the Fed is that this is only half of Bagehot’s classic advice for central banking – lend freely, yes, but on punitive terms with good collateral (so as to deter moral hazard). That last part, starting with the “punitive terms,” appears to be...31 Oct Global FEMA?
...even social interdependence plays out transnationally. Natural disasters everywhere are absorbed and responded to by everyone elsewhere. Long term (and I mean very long term), that should point to a global disaster apparatus. The emergence of some global norms relating to disasters (noted by Kristen below) is a starting point. The increase in private transnational disaster relief (which I suspect has been dramatic) is another. Transborder disasters (most are) are increasingly seen in global perspective. Some are noting that Sandy’s impact in Haiti has been much more grave than suspended...