Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

...peacemaker in conflicts and crises in regions such as Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The pursuit of harmony and mutual cooperation has found resonance among countries with Islamic interpretations as their guiding principles. For them, the concept of harmony is not foreign, but rather a cherished value deeply embedded within Islamic thought and tradition. From Islamic perspectives, harmony serves as essential building blocks in establishing harmonious relationships among all people—Muslim and non-Muslim alike—in the contemporary period. However, China’s influence in the transnational legal order is frequently disregarded...

...Court of Arbitration would be a forum for such peaceful settlements. Back here in The Hague, a palace to house that court was rising. Now 100 years later we honor von Suttner, and the civic activism that can move nations. It may seem strange to celebrate the centennial of the Peace Palace when today’s great powers are at odds over what to do in the face of carnage in Syria. Whether public opinion is—or even should be—taken into account in such decisions of “high politics” is also at issue. But...

...the EU rather than be granted it automatically. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the IMF, has settled the civil lawsuit with a maid out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. The EU has boosted the status of Syria’s opposition, calling the coalition the “legitimate representatives” of the Syrian people. Over at Lawfare, Ashley Deeks has a post about Syria, chemical weapons and possible US military action. For those who have not seen it yet, the second batch of basic materials for the Jessup Competition is now available....

...Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters. Saudi authorities have stepped up their crackdown on online dissidents, Human Rights Watch said, alleging that prosecutors and judges use “vague law” to charge citizens for peaceful tweets and social media comments. Nearly 800 people have been rescued from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea in the last 48 hours, Italian and Libyan officials said. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan he had discussed a transition of power in Syria away from President Bashar al-Assad during a...

...the consistent case law adopting a narrow interpretation of the crime there is a broader use of the term, by NGOs, by journalists, by politicians, and even by UN bodies. For example, recently a fact-finding commission of the Human Rights Council suggested that the persecution of the Rohingya could be characterized as genocide. A few years earlier, another commission of inquiry of the Council said much the same about the Yazidi in Syria. There was a time, some decades ago, where these matters were still open to debate by reasonable...

Western powers have said that Iran is considering their offer of lifting some financial sanctions in return for a scaled-back nuclear program from Tehran. Saudi Arabia has purchased a large amount of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to rebel forces in Syria. Fighting rages on in Syria, with battles nearing a 12th-century mosque in Aleppo, threatening to further damage the historic structure. Symantec Corp researchers have found that the Stuxnet virus that was deployed against Iran began in November 2007, two years earlier than previously thought. An...

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Middle East The UN General Assembly has elected Jordan to the Security Council to replace Saudi Arabia, which had rejected the seat in an unprecedented act to protest the council’s failure to end the Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. Syria’s Bashar al-Assad will remain president and lead any transition agreed upon in Geneva peace talks planned for next month, a government minister has insisted. Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s local branch in Syria, has sent Al Jazeera exclusive footage...

...seekers who arrive illegally by boat from ever entering Australia again, rejecting criticism from rights lawyers who say it would breach the U.N. Refugee Convention. UN/World United Nations member states have voted overwhelmingly to start negotiations on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, despite strong opposition from nuclear-armed nations and their allies. The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that he is “appalled and shocked” by the high number of rockets indiscriminately launched by armed opposition groups on civilian suburbs of Syria’s western Aleppo in...

...city on Saturday afternoon killing at least 18 people, a hospital source said, after a night-time attack by Boko Haram insurgents on the outskirts. South Sudan has decided to expel the world body’s top humanitarian official based in the conflict-torn nation, according to the UN, which called on the government to immediately reverse its decision. Middle East and Northern Africa The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has seized territory from both Syrian government forces and rival rebels over the weekend, further expanding the area it has...

...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)...

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,...

...Africa Any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal must lead to improved living conditions for Palestinians to prevent violence between the two from erupting again, Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said on Sunday. Fighters pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have released a video purporting to show the killing of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians kidnapped in Libya. The United States and its coalition partners conducted three air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and eight in Iraq since Saturday, according to the U.S. military. Thousands...