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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 | |

21 Sep

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 visiting US ports or bases in place since 1986, after New Zealand’s decision to ban any nuclear powered ships or nuclear armed ships from its ports, as...
21.09.12 | |

14 Jul

Chris Borgen Roger, these are defintely the tough questions that are on the table. I make no claims at answers but I'll do some thinking aloud (well, figuratively aloud) to pick up the conversation you started. Without revisiting the issue of when/whether combatting a terrorist organization would be international armed conflict (shades of Hamdan), I'll comment on whether state responsibility can be ascribed to Lebanon for the actions of Hezbollah (of course there's also the issue of Iranian and Syrian repsonsibility but I will also set those aside for now)....
14.07.06 | |

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 | |

10 Mar

...The dilemma is not really a dilemma. It is the result of the fact that the powerful want to commit their crimes with impunity. Otherwise we would have had the means by now to prevent abuse during humanitarian interventions. Imagine for instance that U.S. wants to put her own dictator in Syria and succeeds. After a while the documents of this policy might get declassified or leaked. The Syrians should be able to sue U.S. in an international court. Another possibility is that U.S. goes to ICJ and sues Syria...
10.03.12 | |

29 Jun

...country to a trickle. The sound of whirring helicopter blades fills Syrians with fear that “hell and fire” is about fall in a barrel bomb, a rescue worker told the United Nations Security Council on Friday as pressure mounts for the body to take action to stop civilian killings in Syria. United Nations human rights experts appealed to the United States on Friday to impose a moratorium on the death penalty for federal crimes, including the sentence imposed on the Boston Marathon bomber, with a view to abolishing the practice....
29.06.15 | |

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 | |

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 | |

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 | |

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 | |