Search: crossing lines

...aide, is now director general of the somewhat scary sounding World Nuclear Association). Bad idea? Maybe we’ve come around to a world in which Tom Franck’s then-daring proposition (elaborated here and in the memorable 1991 N.Y. Times op-ed, “Declare War? Congress Can’t”) doesn’t seem so outlandish any more. (Some hint here also along the lines of the Concert of Democracies.) I doubt we’ll hear too much from the Democratic ticket during the campaign about deferring to Turtle Bay, but perhaps we might see possibilities in this direction after inauguration day....

OK, I know the blogosphere has chewed over this article from the Wall Street Journal, and spit it out already, but I still can’t resist posting this WSJ graphic describing a Russian professor’s prediction about the end of the Union sometime in the middle of Obama’s first term (in which case he would be the reverse-Lincoln). I can see disunion in the future, but not quite along the lines here. Utah and Idaho going with California to join China? Alabama and Georgia joining Mexico? Kentucky in the E.U.?...

...status quo that pushes all belligerents back into compliance with the principle of non-use of force in international relations, particularly in settling territorial disputes, as expressed in Articles 1(1) and 2(3) of the UN Charter and Principle I, UNGA Resolution 2625 (XXV). The 2020 ceasefire agreement which put an end to the so-called Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which resulted in Azerbaijan recovering roughly seventy five percent of the territory previously detained by Armenia and the so-called Republic of Artsakh, saw the attribution of a Russian military contingent to guard the armistice lines laid out...

[Akila Radhakrishnan (@akilaGJC) is the President of the Global Justice Center, where she directs GJC’s work to establish legal precedents protecting human rights and ensuring gender equality.] This August marks not only the 3rd anniversary of the start of the Rohingya genocide, but also the 6th anniversary of the start of the Yazidi genocide. Beyond starting in the same month, these two genocides share some key features, not the least of which is that both were conducted along highly gendered lines. In the two we see some similar patterns in...

...the problem of chemical weapons. Of course, these are not the only possible responses to Syria, but they have been the main ones on the table. Turning to international monitoring, possibly through the OPCW, could lead to a real prevention of the future use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, avoid a Russian veto, and get the U.S. out the corner it painted itself into with a bunch of red lines. But I only say “could,” not “will.” The actual proposal needs to be seen. And, related to this,...

...are unlawful, or that they require judicial oversight, or something else, then you won’t be much moved. Seen within the framework of US law and oversight of overseas use of force operations, however, this is an important step. A couple of observations; see Bobby’s post for a detailed discussion. First, this legislation is with respect to operations conducted by the US military; it does not cover CIA activities. Second, it covers US military operations with respect to the lines of oversight running back to the Armed Services committees; it does...

...demarcation lines’ are usually in ‘international relations’ and therefore fall within the scope of the article 2(4) (p. 100). In various UN documents relating to situations in the Middle East, the Green Line has been considered to be an ‘International demarcation line’ which, according to Erin Pobjie, indicates the contextual element of ‘international relations’ which is required for falling within the scope of article 2(4) of the UN Charter. In the 2024 Palestine Advisory Opinion, the ICJ referred to relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions (paras 176-177), and these resolutions,...

...some observers that these deeper principles of criminal law are so embedded in domestic criminal law that domestic systems get them right, while the international law system runs the risk of ignoring them. True, I might have said something along these lines in Reclaiming Fundamental Principles of Criminal Law in the Darfur Case, co-authored with George Fletcher back in 2005. However, one should not overstate the point. We are talking about deeper principles of criminal law – principles that ought to be deep and abstract enough to apply across all...

...British homes. As a Peruvian currently living in the UK, this choice felt personal, and compelled me to write these lines. After all, while Paddington himself may be Peruvian, his story is most certainly not. It was written and created by a British man and meant to be read and discussed by British people. In fact, outside the tourism industry and those educated in the country’s elite British schools, very few Peruvians actually know who Paddington is. This is no wonder. Paddington’s “Peruvianness” plays no real role in developing the...

...more like “Islamo-Bolshevists,” committed to revolution and a reordering of the world along anti-capitalist lines. Like the Bolsheviks in 1914, these Islamist extremists are part of an underground sect, struggling to land more than the occasional big punch on the enemy. But what if they were to get control of a wealthy state, the way Lenin, Trotsky, and company did in 1917? How would the world look if there were an October Revolution in Saudi Arabia? True, some recent survey data suggest that ordinary Saudis are relatively moderate people by...

...the language of international law is used by both leaders. Putin’s argument plays on American fears and worries but it is framed in the rhetoric of international law. There are some scare lines, such as: “A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism.” There is a description of a “reeling” Afghanistan where “no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw.” And, he adds, don’t forget the divisions in Iraq and Libya. It is not in “America’s long-term interest” to have U.S. military intervention...

...Third, the detainee must be informed of the factual basis for detention and be given a genuine opportunity to respond. Even if the international standard on judicial review is developed along those lines, however, states would have some discretion on how best to implement it within their domestic legal systems. In other words, the standard would continue to permit some variance, and whether a particular detention scheme satisfies the standard would be assessed on the facts. Yet, in my view, that variance would not by itself demonstrate a lack of...