Search: crossing lines
17 Feb Outraged Moderates and DoD Notes from 9/11
...same time – not only UBL [Usama Bin Laden]” (as discussed on p. 334-335 of The 9/11 Commission Report and in Bob Woodward’s Plan of Attack). In addition, the documents confirm the contents of CBS News’ Sept. 4, 2002 report “Plans For Iraq Attack Began on 9/11,” which quoted Rumsfeld’s notes as stating: “Go massive . . . Sweep it all up. Things related and not.” These lines were not mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report or Woodward’s Plan of Attack, and to my knowledge, have not been independently confirmed...21 Jan Not the Postnational President, Yet
...a global solution. The speech was hardly bold in this respect. The one passage pointing to something different: And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace. The “lines...
16 Jul Your Guide to Ecocide – Part 2: The Hard Part
...be outright criminalized, full stop? I had similar reactions at the start of my studies, and have had many conversations along the same lines. In this post, I will explain why international environmental law (IEL) does not contain that type of outright prohibition and why it engages in balancing, and then I will map out some of the resulting options for a crime of ecocide. Each option raises its own problems, so we are left with imperfect choices. It is possible that someone – perhaps some reader of this post...
11 Mar Ukraine: How to End the War
...conflict. This would presumably enter into force at its choosing, when it has secured the territory it is really aiming for. A cease-fire would leave the invading armed forces in control of large swathes of Ukrainian territory beyond the Donbas, for instance along Ukraine’s Southern coastline around Odessa. Freezing the lines of control would effectively divide the country, potentially forever. Hence, any peace settlement would need to tie a cease-fire and the various other elements of the agreement to a front-loaded withdrawal of Russian forces. In addition, there would need...18 Apr In Praise of the Bluebook
...bad. Yeah, I groan when I see a page that contains two lines of text and 30 lines of footnotes. But it’s still better than having to mark my place in an article, find the bibliography, and scan an endless list of references listed in 9-pt. font. 3. Citing articles as 2000a, 2000b, and 2000c is ridiculous. Do I really need to waste my time (1) finding the right group of authors in the long list — is it Finkel? Finkel and Groscup? Finkel et al.? — and (2) searching...
29 Nov Also Not the ICC Arrest Warrants we Were Waiting For: On the Six Warrants in the Libya Situation
...the crimes committed in Tarhuna, I had personally expected some of them to address other geographical regions and target higher-level officials such as individuals expressly incriminated by the FFM in its reports, including Khalifa Haftar, the head of the LNA. In November 2023, the OTP outlined four key lines of inquiry, namely (1) 2011 violence, (2) detention facilities, (3) crimes related to the 2014-2020 operations, and (4) crimes against migrants. So far, other than in relation to Tarhuna, four warrants have been issued for crimes committed during the 2011 revolution...
02 Sep Back to the Drawing Board of the Partition Plan: Vice-President Sebutinde’s Erroneous Account of Palestinian and Israeli Claims of Title to the Territory of Mandatory Palestine (Part One)
...state that could lay claim to using internal Palestinian district lines as the basis of its borders.” Again, Judge Sebutinde simply embraces this line of argument (paras. 62, 72), and all four link this to the principle of uti possidetis juris (see Part Two). The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (adopted 14 May 1948; hereinafter Declaration of Independence), referencing the termination of the mandate over Eretz Israel (encompassing Mandatory Palestine), does indeed appear to lay claim over the whole territory, invoking natural and historic right and...14 Apr Transparency and the Closure of Gaza
...that it would harm Israeli security to reveal what is certainly an embarrassing policy but one that has little to do with weapons or specialized defense systems. The court ordered the Defense Ministry to undo its redaction identifying the officials in charge of the policy and to release the “Red Lines” document purportedly used to calculate how much food should be permitted to enter Gaza under the policy in place from June 2007 to June 2010. Yesterday, we at Gisha received the un-redacted documents showing that approval by the most...
03 Sep Back to the Drawing Board of the Partition Plan: Vice-President Sebutinde’s Erroneous Account of Palestinian and Israeli Claims of Title to the Territory of Mandatory Palestine (Part Two)
...possidetis juris would require a return to the borders specified in the Partition Plan, and not just to those established later on as armistice lines (the Green Line) after the “violent struggle” (Shalev) between Israel and its Arab neighbours (note the claim by Peter Schuller, p. 284, that the critical date for determining title to territory in this case would be 1947). Even if many UN resolutions suggest an end to the conflict based on the Green Line and are thus predicated on a return to the pre-1967 borders, the...14 Feb Justice Scalia’s Rule of Law Efforts
Justice Scalia’s passing comes as a shock and is generating tributes across ideological lines. Indeed, whether you agreed with his opinions or not (and I was not a fan of his thinking on cases like Sosa or Bond), Justice Scalia’s opinions deserved to be read. Lines like “never-say-never jurisprudence” and “oh-so-close-to-relevant cases” are some of my personal favorites. Readers should feel free to add their own in the comment section. In the meantime, I wanted to pay tribute to a side of Justice Scalia that has garnered relatively little attention...