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Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

23 Apr

it could also take this simple pledge not to use its veto in the face of atrocity crimes? Aside from legal questions as to the strike and whether or not it met appropriate criteria of legitimacy (as well as why the US is not doing more to solve the Syrian crisis or admit Syrian refugees as Harold H. Koh well asks), let us recognize that we are in a place we should never have reached. First, the Assad regime should never have been using chemical weapons against its own people...
23.04.18 | |

15 Nov

...criminal complaint filed in France in 2016 by Sherpa, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and a dozen former Syrian Lafarge employees, which addressed Lafarge’s activities in Syria via its subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), the parent company (Lafarge SA) was indicted in June 2018 for complicity in crimes against humanity, endangering the lives of others, financing terrorism, and violating an embargo. The judicial inquiry revealed that, to maintain operations in its newly renovated cement factory in Syria, Lafarge transferred at least 15 million US dollars to...
15.11.22 | , , and |

15 Dec

Unsurprisingly, and as I suspected, the UN is having difficulty maintaining its focus in the investigation into Syrian involvement in the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. And, while the investigation has been extended by six months, several members of the Security Council, including Russia, China (both with veto power) and Algeria, have resisted calls to accuse Syria of uncooperative behavior and to pressure Syria towards greater cooperation with the probe. This points out a serious problem for the UN specifically, and the prospects of international law more...
15.12.05 | |

02 Sep

Although it is sometimes hard to remember, there are things going on in the world that are unrelated to the looming U.S.-Syria conflict. And although I have lots of thoughts on Syria, I wanted to point folks to some other news. Japan is threatening to take Korea to the ICJ as a result of a Korean court has upholding compensation to a Korean victim of WWII forced labor who sued Nippon Steel, a Japanese corporation that had used such labor in its support of the Japanese government during WWII. Interestingly,...
02.09.13 | |

30 May

...the group counter-attacked in both Iraq and neighbouring Syria. More than 100,000 Syrians were trapped near the Turkish border as fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group advanced on two strategically-vital towns. The United Nations’ humanitarian chief on Friday demanded that the Syrian government and militant groups stop interfering with the delivery of food and medicine for civilians trapped in besieged and difficult-to-reach areas in war-ravaged Syria. Asia The Japanese government said on Monday it was doing all it could to secure the release of...
30.05.16 | |

02 Nov

express views about the zillions of confirmed news reports about the raid, and the anti-US protests in Syria, the Syrian government’s angry response, and Iran’s angry response. Yes, yes, he’s got an election to win. And I know it is politically advantageous to say nothing. But wouldn’t you like to know whether he thinks such raids are legal, appropriate, and/or necessary? That is the big question, and it would be nice if someone asked him, or if he would give us some hint of where he is going on this....
02.11.08 | |

18 Dec

In yesterday’s Washington Post, we find an article in which Detlev Mehlis, the chief UN investigator into the murder of Rafik al-Hariri, actually accuses Syria of direct involvement in the assassination, as well as linking Syria to the murder of Gibran Tueni. While we can only sit and wait for the UN to release its evidence, let’s hope that what has been gathered is so damning that Russia, China, and Algeria will have no hope but to support punishment. I’m skeptical…but slightly hopeful that the UN will actually be able...
18.12.05 | |

14 Oct

field or whether it will be able to handle the full extent of Syria’s stockpile. Even purpose-built destruction facilities in stable countries have run into technical problems that required them to suspend operations. At this time, there doesn’t seem to be a fully thought out plan for how Syria’s toxic chemicals will be eliminated. This key issue must be resolved by November 15, 2013, when the OPCW is supposed to adopt a detailed destruction plan for Syria. Being at the center of world events has downsides too. The OPCW will...
14.10.13 | |

04 Sep

“hostilities” for purposes of the WPR. That argument incensed many on the Hill, who thought they were being taken for fools. Bob Corker was particularly unhappy (check out his testy exchange with Harold Koh around time stamp 57:00 in the June 2011 SFRC hearing on Libya and war powers). Looks like Corker is settling that score here. By applying the WPR timeline specifically to Syria, it almost certainly will stick. It is highly unlikely that Obama would in this case continue a Syria operation beyond the 60/90-day limit. So the...
04.09.13 | |

14 Sep

it wouldn’t be illegal.) So what do I think of the US-Russian deal? For what it is, and assuming Assad complies, it seems like a good idea. Anything that reduces Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons is positive. Although I don’t think Assad ordered the Damascus attack, I have no doubt he would use chemical weapons if (as seems unlikely at that this point) the rebels ever threatened to overthrow his regime. And of course someone in the Syrian military used chemical weapons, so it would be great if that could...
14.09.13 | |

24 Sep

priorities of the main session and some 50 side meetings. “It is really troubling that this situation is continuing without any immediate end to this crisis.” Attention is one thing, however, and progress something else entirely. Despite at least three high-level meetings on Syria, and countless other talks, not to mention day after day of speeches from presidents, kings and other potentates, no broad new initiatives are expected. “Everybody will think of Syria, everybody will speak of Syria, especially in the speeches to the General Assembly, but I don’t see...
24.09.12 | |

28 May

Bloomberg reports very disturbing statements made by a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army: Communities inhabited by Shiite Muslims and President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority will be “wiped off the map” if the strategic city of Al-Qusair in central Syria falls to government troops, rebel forces said. “We don’t want this to happen, but it will be a reality imposed on everyone,” Colonel Abdel-Hamid Zakaria, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army in Turkey, told Al-Arabiya television yesterday. “It’s going to be an open, sectarian, bloody war to the end.”...
28.05.13 | |