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Search: crossing lines

02 Dec

...the law clearly proscribes. Indeed, prior to the AIPAC case five years ago, the government had never invoked the Espionage Act against any third-party recipient of the leaked/stolen information, focusing prosecutions entirely on the direct culprit. Of course, going after Assange is not the same thing as going after the press politically. And that’s not an insignificant point. But it is basically the same thing legally — crossing a proverbial Rubicon that even the most secrecy-obsessed, First Amendment-indifferent administrations have consistently refused to attempt to bridge. I leave it for...
02.12.10 | |

07 Nov

[Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott is the author of State Responsibility for Non-State Actors: Past, Present and Prospects for the Future (Oxford: Hart | Bloomsbury, 2022, re-issued in paperback 2024)] This is the first part of a two-part post; see Part II here. Information operations can impact societies in many ways. Whether by undermining specific human rights, for example, as a result of crossing the line between ‘lawful influence and unlawful manipulation’ of thought, or by eroding trust in democratic institutions, these operations pose multifaceted risks to domestic, regional, and international stability....
07.11.25 | |

31 May

...this post, I argue that crossing the threshold of a NIAC (non-international armed conflicts) with the State endorsing this qualification very quickly can be problematic in relation to some aspects, especially for the resulting facilitation of rules of engagement. The application of IHL rules pertaining to NIACs is triggered on the basis of two cumulative criteria: the intensity of the conflict and the degree of organization of the belligerent non-State party. As stated above, it seems that in the case of Ecuador, this threshold has been reached. The army is...
31.05.24 | |

04 Nov

...60 round trips per month crossing the 180-kilometre (112-mile) Taiwan Strait separating the island from China. For the most part these stories have focused on the economic and political aspects of these deals, i.e., looking at how business pressures moved the two sides together, the thawing of relations this signals, and the backlash within Taiwan that’s emerged to what some perceive as capitulation to the PRC by Taiwan’s government. I’m interested, however, in the legal implications of these deals. I haven’t been able to locate copies of the agreement texts,...
04.11.08 | |

04 Aug

...Spiegel coverage here. Lebanese soldiers traded fire with Islamist gunmen and shelled areas around the border town of Arsal on Sunday aiming to roll back the biggest incursion by militants into Lebanon since Syria’s civil war began. Some 200 people have been granted passage into Tunisia through the Ras Jedir border crossing, before Tunisian officials again closed the border after just a few hours, as heavy fighting rages in neighboring Libya. Americas A U.S. reconnaissance plane crossed into Swedish airspace last month as it sought to avoid being intercepted by...
04.08.14 | |

10 Apr

...onto the high seas and only “indirectly” deported into the territory of a state party. Deportation’s “essential element” of crossing an international border would thus have taken place in Syria and on the high seas — not on the territory of a member state. This is the importance of the OTP’s repeated insistence in its request (see paras. 4, 13, and 28) that only direct deportations activate the Court’s jurisdiction. In the second scenario, where the civilians are directly deported into a neighbouring state’s territory, a positive outcome to the...
10.04.18 | |

29 Jun

...borders and suspension of new and on-going asylum applications Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of EU Member States introduced restrictions for third-country nationals crossing the EU’s external border. In some cases, EU Member States banned entry to asylum applicants (Cyprus, Greece, Hungary) or declared their ports “unsafe” (Italy and Malta). Other Member States (like Belgium) closed their arrival centers, ultimately restricting access to asylum. The state of emergency due to COVID-19 declared in Hungary, led to the suspension of the right to apply for asylum. In...
29.06.20 | |

05 Aug

...ICC jurisdiction over the situation in Gaza. If the ICC is to become involved in the most heavily politicised conflict in recent history — and I think the likelihood the OTP would act on even a proper request is essentially zero — there should be no doubt whatsoever about either Palestine’s desire for an investigation or the ICC’s jurisdictional competence. If we’ve learned anything about the conflict in Gaza, it’s the importance of always crossing the legal “t’s” and dotting the legal “i’s.” UPDATE: Multiple sources are reporting on Twitter...
05.08.14 | |

24 Jul

...in the South China Sea, to bolster its sovereignty claims in the area. The Philippine president, Benigno Aqino, has said he will not back down from China regarding the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. For the first time, Egypt has loosened the restrictions on Palestinians temporarily entering the country at the Rafah border crossing A US drone struck in Pakistan, killing 12 suspected militants. At the request of the EU, the US and Japan, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body has established a panel to consider China’s export...
24.07.12 | |

22 Jun

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa South Africa’s main opposition on Sunday called for a full investigation into the government’s failure to arrest Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who is due to face charges of genocide at the International Criminal Court. Somali armed group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military compound in Mogadishu where Somali intelligence officials train, claiming it killed “many intelligence forces”. Middle East and Northern Africa More than 20 air strikes by Arab forces hit...
22.06.15 | |

27 Oct

...to go to Congress to get legislation and, in effect, a political announcement that the two political branches have reached agreement on policy and law in these contentious areas, political and policy stability is much weaker. This particularly so given that the default position of any opposition party is to criticize-on-autopilot, especially when votes in Congress have not locked at least some of them in, including perhaps Congressional leadership, and reduced their ability to kibitz from the uncommitted sidelines. If this “pivot” or at least indifference by Democrats under a...
27.10.12 | |

14 Jun

...ability of our consular officers to see him, provide assistance, and monitor his condition. Similarly, the United States invoked the VCCR to seek access to the three American hikers detained in Iran after accidently crossing an unmarked boarder in 2009. In 2001, when a U.S. Navy surveillance plane made an emergency landing in Chinese territory, the State Department cited the VCCR in demanding immediate access to the plane’s crew. . . . This bill has the support of the Obama administration, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense,...
14.06.11 | |