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Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

27 Apr

This week on Opinio Juris, we continued last week‘s Kiobel Insta-Symposium. Quoting from his and John Yoo’s Forbes contribution, Julian argued that the rejection of universal civil jurisdiction is common sense because it leaves the decision on foreign policy consequences of extraterritoriality to the political branches. He also drew our attention to two positive assessments of the opinion, by John Bellinger and Eugene Kontorovich. Austen Parrish offered an alternative narrative about the meaning of Kiobel, seeing it as a welcome retreat from US unilateralism towards more multilateralism. The many unanswered...
27.04.13 | |

02 Sep

Just as Syria has been our main focus the last few days with our Insta-Symposium, there has been a lot written elsewhere on the developing situation. Just a sampling of a couple other articles of note: one from William Schabas on intervention as aggression and one from Charli Carpenter urging us not to use the term “humanitarian” for this intervention. Foreign Policy urges Congress to think hard about Obama’s plan. Additionally, Reuters covers Syria’s request to the Security Council to intervene on the potential US intervention. In other news, A...
02.09.13 | |

01 Aug

...have rallied against the alleged mistreatment of young people in detention, including the hooding and physical restraint of teens, amid calls for an inquiry into the abuse to be expanded and the United Nation High Commission on Human Rights called on Australia on Friday to compensate children abused in prison. UN/World The U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Syria on Sunday held talks with Syrian officials in Damascus to sound out their position on how to break an impasse hindering the proposed resumption of peace talks around the end of August....
01.08.16 | |

03 Aug

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has quit as Syria’s peace envoy after becoming frustrated with “finger-pointing” at the UN while the battle in Syria rages on. IPS offers more context here. China has expressed its regret. Meanwhile, a UN resolution on Syria goes to the General Assembly today, criticizing the Security Council for failing to take action and denouncing the use of force on civilians by the Syrian government. The UN Security Council did, however, demand and end to foreign support of rebels in the Democratic Republic of the...
03.08.12 | |

30 May

...non grata. Interestingly, Belgium can’t expel the Syrian ambassador, because he is also ambassador to the EU and there is no agreement on diplomatic sanctions against Syria within the EU. Foreign Policy has more on what expelling a diplomat entails and the five worst atrocities of the Syrian uprising. Two Danish brothers of Somali origin have been arrested in Denmark connected with allegedly planning an al-Shebab terrorist plot. A former Rwandan school teacher living in Canada pleaded not guilty yesterday to involvement in the Rwandan Genocide; his charges are one...
30.05.12 | |

07 Mar

...southern Somalia. Middle East and Northern Africa At least nine civilians have been killed and dozens more wounded after mortar rounds and rockets were fired on a mainly Kurdish residential quarter in the northern city of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Kurdish YPG group. February marked the highest number of home demolitions in the occupied West Bank since the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) began recording in 2009, according to a recent statement. Libyan forces based in the city of Misrata have carried out air strikes...
07.03.16 | |

10 Jan

...posed to illustrate the problem and I ask my students is whether Syria has the right to use force today to retake the Golan Heights which were captured by Israel in 1967. Its now 40 years after the event. Some might argue that given the passage of time Syria is bound to use diplomatic means. Syria might argue that the passage of time shows diplomacy has not and will not work and that it has no other means of retaking this territory thus demonstrating that the use of force is...
10.01.07 | |

16 Mar

...in a pre-recorded documentary. Americas Nearly 100,000 members of the Venezuelan armed forces have begun conducting exercises across the Latin American country amid worsening relations with the US. The United States and coalition partners carried out seven air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and four in Syria since Saturday, the U.S. military said. The United States will have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a political transition in Syria and explore ways to pressure him into agreeing to talks, US Secretary of State John Kerry has...
16.03.15 | |

29 Jan

...Syria? Jordan Well, my last question nearly made the news -- with an Israeli strike on a target in Syria. But there is still a question whether a weapons research lab was struck or a conveoy of trucks carrying weapons. Perhaps the prior Syrian armed attack on Israel justified this measure in self-defense? Or did it initiate an armed conflict with Syria, the law of war paradigm, and the permissibility of targeting lawful military targets? If the latter, will Israel destroy the chemical weapons and biologic weapons stashed in Syria?...
29.01.13 | |

29 Feb

...p.m. ET). Guns mostly fell silent in Syria and Russian air raids stopped on Saturday, the first day of a cessation of hostilities that the United Nations has described as the best hope for peace in five years of civil war, but the Syrian opposition warned on Sunday that attacks by the army, backed by Russian warplanes, threatened a U.S.-Russian deal for a cessation of hostilities with collapse and endangered future peace talks. The Arab coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen has denied targeting civilians after air strikes hit a...
29.02.16 | |

26 Aug

UN inspectors will be allowed into the Damascus suburb to investigate an alleged chemical weapon attack that killed approximately 355 civilians last week. Julian mentioned that the US may be looking into military intervention into Syria, a move that Russia is concerned about, warning the US not to repeat past mistakes in the region. Despite Russia’s pleas for restraint, in Jordan, military commanders from Western and Muslim countries are meeting to discuss the Syria conflict, as Western powers weigh military action. Dapo Akande, at EJIL:Talk, has a response to Kevin...
26.08.13 | |

22 Aug

...that the sexual allegations against Assange would not constitute a felony in Latin America. Rebels have claimed new victories in Syria’s Aleppo, while heavy fighting continues. Russia has warned the West with unilateral action after US president Barack Obama threatened the use of military force, were Syria to engage with use of chemical weapons. At talks in Moscow, Syria’s Depute Prime Minister has indicated that although Assad’s resignation cannot be a condition for starting talks, it could be on the table during negotiations if necessary to reach a settlement. Japan...
22.08.12 | |