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Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

22 Mar

...by the majority of Muslims anyway. But such rallying cries resonate in some sections of Muslim societies today. Both of you have said that people on each side thought they were fighting in self-defense. Madden: By 1095 when Urban II called the First Crusade, fully two-thirds of the old Christian world had been conquered by Muslim armies. Aside from the Holy Land, Muslims had conquered all of Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Spain. In addition, Asia Minor (modern Turkey) had only recently been conquered by the Turks. The Crusades were,...
22.03.06 | |

20 Aug

...engage in collective self-defense. Certainly not self-defense in view of the beheading of one U.S. citizen. Consent from what is left of the rebel organization in Syria that some time ago had been declared to be the legitimate representative of the Syrian people? If the U.S. does not have a viable claim to use force in Syria under international law, the recognized presidential authority under Article II of the Const. to faithfully execute the Laws (including int'l law authorizing the use of force, e.g., in self-defense) will not be applicable....
20.08.14 | |

19 May

...does not seem to include recognizing the dramatic consequences of 1) our war of choice in Iraq or 2) our torture with the complicity of the precise leaders against which we rail (Libya, Egypt, Syria). Our lack of integrating in our strategy accountability domestically for our own high level perpetrators/enablers of oppression in the Middle East is a bit much. We rail against Khaddafi in Libya and Assad in Syria in what they do to their own people, yet stand silent about what Bush did in Iraq (the present refers...
19.05.11 | |

02 Jun

...many Arab states declared war on Israel, and while some of them (Egypt, Jordan) have made peace, others (Syria, Lebanon) are still formally at war with Israel. Palestine was to be partitioned into two countries, but Gaza was seized by the Egyptians. Gaza is now unoccupied territory not part of any recognized country, but run by Hamas an ally of Syria and Hezbollah who are part of a formal international armed conflict. There are, therefore, several different competing legal theories about why Israel is entitled to blockade Gaza. It could...
02.06.10 | |

18 Feb

...of recognition of belligerency would be considered to still be in place [which is doubtful after the adoption of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which extended (part of) the laws of war to fighting between a State and an armed opposition group - as did recognition of belligerency do prior to that time, although such recognition obviously served more purposes], and be considered applicable for Syria, it would only apply to the part of the Syrian opposition that has in fact been recognised (SNC). However, in the diffuse Syrian conflict there...
18.02.14 | |

15 Jun

...on their behalves that Israel broke the law. Was Israel? Was Israel wrong? Frankly, if I was Israel, given the hypocrisy of countries like Turkey and the UN calling for an independent investigation into violations of the law and the manner in which this country typically is treated, I wouldn't care one whit. Really, if the world thinks countries like Libya, Syria or Iran belong on an international organ like the Human Rights Commission, where is the even semblance of respect for international laws??? Kevin Jon Heller Elliot, Hmm, last...
15.06.10 | |

07 Aug

...no claims to it before 2000, and those claims are not taken seriously by anyone; the U.N. in 2000 even stated that some of Lebanon's proffered "evidence" was forged. The only real ownership dispute is between Israel and Syria. (The land lies at the intersection of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.) Peggy McGuinness EK-- My comments were meant to capture the historical realities of peace agreements. I am not sure it is any more a "defeat" of international law when parties agree to settle wars than it is a defeat for...
07.08.06 | |

30 Jul

...think your analysis misses a substantive element of the balance between the ability to conduct military operations and the duty to minimize civilian casualties. Mostly, I am having a difficult time with your argument that civilians have no duty to leave a mixed use civilian-combatant target even after they have been warned that it will be targeted in the near future for attack. In instances where the civilians have no free will (held at gun-point by Hamas) you may have a point (though then we have a host of other...
30.07.14 | |

30 Apr

The Syrian Prime Minister has survived a car bomb in Damascus, an event UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon labelled a “terrorist attack.” Ban Ki-Moon also urged Syria to allow international experts access in order to establish whether chemical weapons were used. Meanwhile, in a phone call to President Putin, President Obama has expressed his concern over the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) sentenced five men to prison for their roles in an organ trafficking syndicate. Afghan President Hamid Karzai...
30.04.13 | |

11 Sep

President Obama has offered conditional support to the another round of diplomacy on Syria and called off Congress’ vote on the authorization of military action. Meanwhile, France will put a resolution under Chapter VII on the Security Council’s agenda to force Syria to clean up its chemical weapons stock under international control for destruction. The trial of Kenya’s deputy President, William Ruto, started at the ICC yesterday. North and South Korea have agreed to reopen the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park from next week onwards, in a sign of easing tensions,...
11.09.13 | |

11 May

[Jennifer Trahan is an Associate Clinical Professor at the NYU Center for Global Affairs.] I, too, would like to thank Opinio Juris for our mini-symposium and dialogue on the use of the veto in the face of atrocity crimes. I hope it stimulates further thought, analysis and work on these important issues. For those who missed the debates, I posted attacking the legality of Russia’s veto in the face of chemical weapons use in Syria, Dr. Mohamed Helal defended Russia’s veto use as consistent with the drafting of the UN...
11.05.18 | |

18 Nov

...the weapons the neocons have in their arsenal these days. The first, as Heilbrunn notes, is Barack Obama, or more precisely discontent with his apparently reactive and hesitating approach to foreign and security policy, exemplified by situations such as Ukraine, Syria and the rise of ISIS. If you read the fine print, to the extent there is any, the neocons like Cheney and Bill Kristol don’t have any master plan or worked out strategy of their own for dealing with these problems. They appeal to the heartwarming (for some Americans)...
18.11.14 | |