Search: battlefield robots
13 Jul Weekly News Wrap: Monday, July 13, 2015
...released on Friday. Colombia pledged on Sunday to de-escalate military action against leftist guerrillas if the rebels uphold their unilateral ceasefire, providing a breakthrough in peace talks that had been threatened by an escalation of battlefield violence. U.S.-led forces conducted 16 air strikes in Syria and 11 more in Iraq against Islamic State forces on Saturday, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the air operations said on Sunday. UN/World The United Nations said it expects an unconditional week-long humanitarian pause in the fighting in Yemen to start on Friday to...
16 May Symposium on Systemic Racism and Sexism in Legal Academia: The Promise of Victory
...For racialised and gendered scholars, the emotional labour in simply being, let alone belonging, is punishing. On the battlefield, we need allies, creativity, resilience, and, perhaps most of all, we need victories. This symposium is a victory. It was hard fought, with various intervening factors delaying its release and altering its appearance. I tip my hat to those who spoke and do not judge those who did not. I also acknowledge those who, out of fear of reprisals, withdrew their submissions at later stages. There is neither harm nor disappointment....
28 Nov Profiting from Atrocity: The Emerging Legal Threat to Companies Enabling War Crimes
...giving undue weight to foreign policy goals or considerations. No actor, whether a government official, rebel commander, or business corporation, should be beyond the law if they substantially contribute to atrocities. Profiting from atrocity carries profound legal risks, and those who enable the worst crimes can themselves be called to account as architects of evil. The evolving nexus of international law and corporate accountability aims to ensure that “never again” applies not just to perpetrators on the battlefield, but also to those in boardrooms who would equip or finance them....10 Oct Letter from Iraq
...now have more combat experience than any Marines in the history of our Corps…. Biggest Hassle — High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and “battlefield” tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on their preconceived notions of what’s going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they’ve been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about...25 Sep Bobby Chesney Responds to My Post
...an IHL scholar to see the problems with that argument. IHL applies only if conflict is sufficiently intense and organized to qualify as a NIAC. Period. There is no “weak domestic law” exception to that fundamental requirement. And even if a NIAC exists, IHL applies to individuals located outside the battlefield only if they are members of an organization involved in that NIAC or are directly participating in hostilities there. The real question, in short, is whether individuals in the U.S. accused solely of materially supporting terrorism can be considered...26 Jul Use of Hearsay Evidence in Military Commissions
...security…. The draft measure describes court-martial procedure as “not practicable in trying enemy combatants” because doing so would “require the government to share classified information” and would exclude “hearsay evidence determined to be probative and reliable…. Nor does the bill adhere to the military’s rules for the admissibility of evidence and witnesses at trial statements because “the United States cannot safely require members of the armed forces to gather evidence on the battlefield as though they were police officers,” the proposal says. The draft bill specifies that no matter how...24 Mar Weekly News Wrap: Tuesday, March 24, 2015
...military experts to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State in nine air strikes in Iraq and Syria in the latest round of daily attacks on the militants, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Sunday. Praised as a model of Arab Spring progress, Tunisia has finally been drawn onto the global jihadi battlefield after Islamist militants gunned down foreign tourists in a brazen assault at the heart of the capital. The Lebanese military is struggling to...
20 Nov Australian Special Forces War Crimes Prosecutions: Crucial but Just One Aspect When It Comes to Respect for the Laws of War
...battlefield itself. It is in the training pre-deployment, in the policies embedded, and ultimately, in the culture of the armed forces – but also of the nation those forces represent. There are many measures that governments can, and do, take to respect and ensure respect for the laws of war. Many of the actions required to be undertaken by countries to respect the law are set out in law itself. These including ensuring the women and men who serve know the laws and are well trained in them. However, the...09 Mar Weekly News Wrap: Monday, March 9, 2015
...referendum which, the Kremlin has asserted until now, prompted the region’s annexation from Ukraine. The head of Germany’s military intelligence says he fears its armed forces could be infiltrated by Islamist militants to obtain weapons training for use in fighting in Syria and Iraq for insurgent groups like Islamic State. Americas Colombia’s government and the leftist rebel movement have announced an agreement to remove landmines from the battlefield in a sign of progress in their two-year-old peace talks being held in Cuba. The United States has withdrawn a $3 million...
14 Feb Justice Prevails over Realpolitik at Koblenz: International Law offers a Rare Glimmer of Hope after a Decade of Disappointments for Syrians
...this regard, it serves as a timely reminder that the Assad regime cannot be readmitted into the international community simply because it prevailed on the battlefield with the help of its allies, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. On the contrary, it should be held accountable for the atrocities that enabled its military triumph. This symbolism is important in light of recent moves by Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt to reintegrate the Assad regime into the Arab world (see here, here and here). Even the US recently...