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Search: drones

02 Nov

...any legal basis on which the Court can silence an accused . Kevin also pointed out problems with the appointment of a new judge in the Seselj case, which led to a very active discussion in the comments. Julian asked whether Japan’s pledge to shoot down Chinese drones violates international law. Maybe the Japanese could learn a thing or two from the British Navy and its use of Britney Spears’ songs to scare away Somali pirates along Africa’s East Coast. Finally, Sean D. Murphy summarized the International Law Commission’s work...
02.11.13 | |

01 Nov

...the protection of civilians from the devastation of war. In World War II both sides resorted to the blanket bombing of cities—often at night—that killed hundreds of thousands of noncombatants. Nobody was tried for these killings; If the Axis had won the war they would surely have tried “Bomber Harris” for the RAF’s actions.Laser guided missiles and unmanned drones have made more accurate targeting feasible. Although the United States has never become a party to the Protocols, its armed forces have tried hard to minimize civilian casualties in Serbia, Iraq...
01.11.11 | |

23 May

...it will define us, mindful of James Madison’s warning that “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” …. [T]he use of force must be seen as part of a larger discussion about a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy. Because for all the focus on the use of force, force alone cannot make us safe. We cannot use force everywhere that a radical ideology takes root; and in the absence of a strategy that reduces the well-spring of extremism, a perpetual war – through drones or Special Forces...
23.05.13 | |

13 Jul

...of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, police said. Middle East and Northern Africa Iran and six world powers are close to signing a historic nuclear deal that will bring sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s atomic programme, officials say. The United States is holding discussions with countries in North Africa about locating drones at a base there to heighten monitoring of Islamic State in Libya. Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, celebrated her 18th birthday in Lebanon on Sunday by opening a school...
13.07.15 | |

15 Jan

...has an internationalized armed conflict there may be areas where the conflict does not exist. I will leave it to Brookman-Byrne to continue this analysis as it involves several of the armed conflicts discussed by Mačák. Sadly, drones seems to be a popular method of combatting terrorism more generally and they are being used without the geographical analysis needed to ensure the attack is taking place within an armed conflict. Within the criminal context in a zone that does not fall into Mačák’s typology the person attacked of a drone...
15.01.19 | |

15 Jun

...West shouldn’t expect Russia to change its position on Syria any time soon. The UK has warned Argentina about acts of “aggression” regarding the Falkland Islands. The British Finance Minister has stated that Greece may have to leave the Euro. The Prosecutor of the ICC has filed a new application to arrest a Rwandan field commander, Sylvestre Mucadumura. Venezuela claims to be building drones with the help of Iran. Germany and France are set to deepen their defense cooperation. The OSCE has criticized the recent violence between Azerbaijan and Armenia....
15.06.12 | |

30 Jan

...damage claims related to the foreign activities of multinational companies. Niger has given permission for U.S. surveillance drones to be stationed on its territory to improve intelligence on al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters in northern Mali and the wider Sahara. An Egyptian court upheld the in absentia death sentences of seven Coptic Christians and an American preacher on charges stemming from the amateur anti-Muslim film Innocence of Muslims, which sparked violent protests in the Middle East last year Israel will give Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s administration around $100 million in tax...
30.01.13 | |

21 Jul

CIA director Leon Panetta has named a new National Clandestine Service chief, reports Peter Finn in the Washington Post today. The new chief, John Bennett, has been serving as station chief in Pakistan, overseeing in particular the expansion of the drone campaign carried out by the CIA there. One can safely take that as further evidence that the Obama administration does not take senior, deep participation in targeted killings using drones as something to be embarrassed about; quite the contrary. Bennett, a former Marine and Harvard graduate, had retired in...
21.07.10 | |

22 Dec

...Donors to their own Donors, reducing their own net aid intake. They explained their counterproductive behavior with non-standard concepts such as “Tis more bless’d to give than to receive.” There were aspects unaccountably unaddressed by the evaluation – principally the role of behavioral incentives, in the form of surveillance by drones by which to make up “naughty” and “nice” lists. I can only add that since Amazon has taken over the whole program under contract to the United Nations Development Program, it is all anticipated to work much more smoothly....
22.12.11 | |

14 May

...case information sheet here). He is faced with charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. American drones have allegedly killed 10 militants in Yemen, in a stepped-up effort to get a strangle hold on AQAP. Foreign Policy explores some of the potential dangers in for this move. Through an exchange of letters, Israel and Palestine have made a rare joint statement that both parties are “committed to peace.” Various subgroups of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are meeting in Bonn from...
14.05.12 | |

25 Mar

...— this was an enormously positive step. Second, on the substance. On first read, I think this is a great statement. It addresses an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces. But it also asserts self-defense several times as an alternative. I had been greatly concerned, frankly, that the administration’s lawyers would narrowly confine the justification for targeted killing using drones to situations that would really only cover the military using them on active battlefields. But on first read, this statement does not do that at all....
25.03.10 | |

15 Oct

I am currently underwater with some things and won’t be posting much, despite my interest in the debates over drones, targeted killing, and much else besides. However, I wanted to suggest that, for those trying to make sense of US actions in AfPak – including the overt strikes by NATO against safe havens in Pakistan, the sharply increased public pressure by the US on the Pakistan government to take action against these safe havens, the unapologetic defense of targeted killing even of US citizens in places like Yemen or Somalia...
15.10.10 | |