Search: drones
16 Jan Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced that the United States would give Afghanistan its own fleet of aerial surveillance drones and would speed up the handover of detainees held by American forces. The European Court of Human Rights has found in Eweida and Others v. The United Kingdom (ECHR court document) that British Airways discriminated against a devoutly Christian employee by making her remove her crucifix while at work. Libyan government documents show that Libya authorized payment of almost $200 million to Mauritania months after it extradited Libyan ex-spy chief Senussi...25 Apr The Legality Surrounding the US Strikes in Syria
[Nancy Simons is a Belgian lawyer and serves on the International Bar Association’s Drones Task Force. Her professional background lies in international law generally. She has worked at a number of international non-governmental organisations and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.] It has been almost two weeks since the United States (US) initiated several missile strikes on a Syrian airfield. From the US perspective, the justification for this use of force was that it was in response to the use of chemical weapons allegedly by the Assad regime....
19 Sep When the World Looks Away: How the Iran–Israel Conflict Diverted Focus from Ukraine
...Russia and Iran do not have a formal military alliance, their strategic partnership has strengthened considerably. Moscow benefits from Iranian drones and missile technology on the Ukraine battlefield, while Tehran gains diplomatic support and political cover from Russia amid the Israel-Iran conflict. This nuanced cooperation allows both adversaries to exploit Western distraction and advance their regional and global agendas. Iran’s weapons exports have become a lifeline for Russia’s war machine, helping to replenish its depleted stockpiles and sustain offensive operations. In return, Russia provides Tehran with valuable geopolitical backing, shielding...
18 Nov The Use of False Acoustic Signatures by Submarines: Perfidy or Ruse of War?
...Submarines Every submarine has a unique “acoustic fingerprint.” Its engines, machinery, and propellers produce a pattern of sound that naval intelligence agencies catalog and use to identify vessels. Just as a flag signals nationality on the surface, an acoustic signature signals identity underwater. Traditionally, submarines sought to minimize their noise to evade detection. But advances in underwater drones and acoustic technology now make it possible to mimic another submarine’s signature. A vessel could project the sound of a different submarine—or use a decoy unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) to create confusion....12 Jan Autonomous Legal Reasoning: Legal and Ethical Issues in the Technologies of Conflict
One of the highlights of my Fall semester was the opportunity to host a one-day workshop at Temple Law on how autonomous technology may impact the future of international humanitarian law (IHL) and the lawyers who practice it. With co-sponsorship from the International Committee of the Red Cross (specifically, Rob Ramey and Tracey Begley) as well as Gary Brown of Marine Corps University, we wanted to have an inter-disciplinary conversation on the way autonomy may implicate the practice of law across a range of new technologies, including cyberwar, drones, and...27 Jul Weekday News Wrap: Friday, July 27, 2012
The skies over Somalia have become so congested with drones that the UAVs pose a threat to air traffic and potentially to an arms-embargo. In a shift from the past, the Egyptian president, Mohamed Mursi, met with the leader of Hamas, Ismael Haniyeh. The Netherlands suspended $6.15 million in aid to Rwanda yesterday, following a similar move by the US a day earlier, over Rwanda’s support for rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urges nations to “bridge their differences” in coming to a...22 Nov Cyber POWS and the Second Geneva Convention
...case of unmanned combat systems, such as drones. If the operator of an attack drone witnesses a group of enemy combatants with weapons dropped and waving a white flag, should those soldiers be considered hors de combat and no longer subject to attack? The lack of ground forces to process as POWs those who surrender has made this question a matter of some debate due to the potential for misuse. The difference in the current situation is the greater potential degree of control exercised over those aboard a ship at...17 Oct Weekly News Wrap: Thursday, October 17, 2013
...Soviet rule in 1956. In a report commissioned ahead of an EU summit in December, Catherine Ashton (the EU foreign policy chief) said European governments should commit to cooperative projects in drones, a new satellite communications system, cyber defense and plugging a shortfall in air tankers. Americas The Washington Post details that the US National Security Agency has had a much bigger role in targeted killings than previously known, garnered from information that has come to light with the recent leaks by Edward Snowden. The US government shutdown has come...06 Apr Events and announcements: April 6, 2014
...October 2014. Proposals for papers should be submitted to the editors by July 31, 2014. Contact details are available on the TDM website. Announcements The ICRC has launched its first Research & Debate Cycle on New Technologies and the Modern Battlespace. In recent years, a wide array of new technologies has entered the modern battlefield, giving rise to new methods and means of warfare, such as cyber attacks, armed drones and robots. While there can be no doubt that IHL applies to them, applying pre-existing legal rules to new technologies...