Search: crossing lines
23 Apr Want to Prosecute the Lawyers? Cite Ministries — Not the Justice Case
...medical supervision and restrictive guidelines could be viewed as something less than torture. The authors clearly knew they were drawing black and white lines in a very gray area. And since the cite the fact that over 26,000 US servicemen have been waterboarded as part of their training since 1992 (and many thousands more before that), then either: (a) the US routinely tortures its own servicemen; or (b) at some level of intensity, waterboarding is not torture. The authors chose (b). Is that clearly irresponsible, or just a point on...23 Nov When Playing Call of Duty 4, Don’t Forget to Consult the Laws of War
...Maybe someone should review that for IHL? SMM Disagreeing with an earlier response... The fact that much of our young culture today is indoctrinated with plots and story lines from movies, television shows, and now video games it seems increasingly likely that these sort of plot developments and exposure to violations of International law could very easily have a lasting effect. Being a young male I have several friends who have joined the armed forces simply because they enjoyed the idea of being able to be a real life "First...08 Aug Frozen Conflict Becomes Hot War: Russia Invades Georgia
...(and the second sentence of Article 2(1) says that this commander is Russian) (http://smr.gov.ge/uploads/file/jpkf/1994-12-06%20Resolution_JPKF_Eng.pdf). The idea of 'restoring peace' seems to be something along the lines of what Russia has been saying, but I don't think that this would help much on its own. I am not entirely sure where one would put a decree by JCC in terms of treaty interpretation (since JCC has a Russian, S-Ossetian and Georgian members, perchance it is subsequent practice as per Article 31(3)(b)?). In any event, the text and context suggests that what...06 Jun Spain “Blockades” Gibraltar to Prevent Escape of U.S. Treasure Ships
In its relentless quest to recover the underseas treasure recently found by a Florida-based company, the Spanish government has instructed its Navy, pursuant to a court order, to detain to U.S. ships belonging to that company. Those ships are currently in Gibraltar, but apparently, they will be boarded and seized as soon as they leave Gibraltar and enter Spanish waters. I’m a little fuzzy on the geography here (maybe the attached map helps?), but assuming that crossing Spanish waters is necessary to leave Gibraltar, the two U.S. ships are out...05 Sep Stephen Walt’s Advice to Would-be Foreign Policy Wonks: Study International Law!
...suspicion that international law is a pretty weak instrument, especially when dealing with great powers. Nonetheless, states and other international actors use international law all of the time, and they certainly invoke it to try advance their own particular interests. So it’s good to have some idea what international law is, how it works, and what it can and cannot do. One of the challenges for IR students is that not all political science departments offer international law on a regular basis. Crossing campus to take international law at the...27 Aug Dear News Agencies of the World: China Did NOT Breach Taiwan’s Airspace, Just Its ADIZ
...do not usually claim the right to exclude other nations’ aircraft from their ADIZ, as if it was sovereign territory. (For a recent discussion of the legal issues in ADIZ declarations, see here). Now, since China has usually been careful to avoid crossing into Taiwan’s ADIZ (or at least parts of Taiwan’s ADIZ), its decision to do so now is interesting and significant. But it is not a territorial incursion and it is not (technically) breaching “Taiwan’s airspace”. So news agencies should be careful not to report it as such....08 Dec Why the U.S. is Not Invoking International Law to Oppose China’s ADIZ
...since the U.S. does not recognize Japanese sovereignty over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, why should it complain when China draws an ADIZ intended to protect airspace over those islands? This wrinkle in the U.S. position also explains Japan’s harsher reaction to the Chinese ADIZ. To Japan, China is literally demanding Japanese airlines report to its military before crossing airspace into or near Japan’s own national airspace. It would be like China demanding information from US airlines flying between San Francisco and Hawaii (Congress would explode with indignation). But from the U.S....
02 Apr The Use of Convoys and the Risk of Having Convoys with Combined US & Neutral Escorts
...through the Strait of Hormuz daily. So far in March, an average of 5-6 vessels per day is transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, a significant decrease. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Sunday 22 March that crossing the Strait of Hormuz is ‘open to all, except those who violate our soil’. In an effort to gather support to reopen the key maritime corridor, on Sunday 15 March, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, warned his NATO allies that they face a “very bad future” if they refuse to send their...
06 Apr When International Law Fails to Protect: Humanitarian Intervention and the Iranian Repression
...paradigm just cause remains self-defense against external aggression, some theorists extend the underlying logic of defense to include other-defense, that is, the use of force to protect victims of aggression who are unable to defend themselves, a view developed by Jeff McMahan. Some scholars have interpreted humanitarian intervention as a form of collective other-defense, extending the logic of self-defense to the protection of vulnerable populations, as argued by George Fletcher and Jens Ohlin. Humanitarian intervention falls within this extended category: it involves crossing borders without the consent of the territorial...09 Apr What’s the Status of the US-Canada Boundary after Medellin?
...legal authority for enforcing the boundary line at all? Is there some statute out there that authorizes the Executive Branch to maintain the boundary line where it is and keep folks from crossing it, moving it, or building much larger obstructions than a 3 foot retaining wall? If not, could Medellin have the unintended consequence of wiping out our border with Canada until Congress legislates it? Now, I’d assume that the courts would not go so far, even if that’s the direction Medellin clearly points. For example, I’d expect that,...