Search: jens iverson
27 Jul Weekly News Wrap: Monday, July 27, 2015
...on Friday it had every right to drill in the East China Sea close to waters disputed with Japan, adding that it did not recognize a “unilateral” Japanese median line setting out a boundary between the two in the waters. The start of the trial of a former Soviet army officer accused of being a Taliban fighter has been postponed by a day until Tuesday, court records showed late on Sunday. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general, has called an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss security at the request of Turkey...30 Sep Ground Troops & the Myth of Air Power
House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview on Sunday that ground troops may be necessary in order to stop the threat of ISIS. Although his comments were interwoven with lots of unnecessary talk of ISIS being barbarians, which I don’t think is terribly helpful, I do agree with his bottom-line assessment: air power and proxy ground troops won’t be enough to win this war. This points to a frequent mistake. Politicians think they can eliminate the cost of going to war by conducting an air war. That...30 Dec Special Double Issue on the ICC
...and Methods of Warfare Robert Cryer, Royalism and the King: Article 21 and the Politics of Sources Jens David Ohlin, Joint Criminal Confusion Elies van Sliedregt, Article 28 of the ICC Statute: Mode of Liability and/or Separate Offense Mohamed Elewa Badar, Dolus Eventualis and the Rome Statute Without It? Olympia Bekou, A Case for Review of Article 88, ICC Statute: Strengthening a Forgotten Provision Ilias Bantekas, The Need to Amend Article 12 of the ICC Statute: Remedying the Effects of Multilateral Treaties upon Third Parties Cedric Ryngaert, The International Criminal...11 Sep Obama’s Lame Justification for the ISIL Strikes (He Played the Wrong Card)
I’ll pile on in deploring the legal justification for the expanded operation against the Islamic State. No one is buying the AUMF basis. In addition to Jens below, Jack Goldsmith and Jennifer Daskal have devastating critiques here and here. The justification could have lasting negative consequences for interbranch relations in the war powers context. The 2001 AUMF involved a context in which congressional authorization was necessary, the response to the 9/11 attacks comprising real “war” for constitutional purposes. It has now been deformed beyond all recognition. This will deter future...17 Jun More thoughts on al-Bashir, Sudan, and South Africa
I wanted to follow up on my previous post about the inter-branch dispute in the South African government over executing an international arrest warrant against President al-Bashir of Sudan. A South African court issued an order preventing al-Bashir from leaving South Africa, but notwithstanding this decision, the South Africa government appears to have let him escape anyway. It appears to be a case of executive branch defiance of a binding judicial order. Several readers have suggested that South Africa is not under a legal obligation to arrest al-Bashir...30 Oct New Article on the Legality of Signature Strikes
The article, which is available in draft form on SSRN, is entitled “‘One Hell of a Killing Machine’: Signature Strikes and International Law.” It is forthcoming in the Journal of International Criminal Justice as part of a mini-symposium on targeted killing edited by Cornell’s Jens Ohlin. Here is the abstract: The vast majority of drone attacks conducted by the U.S. have been signature strikes – those that target “groups of men who bear certain signatures, or defining characteristics associated with terrorist activity, but whose identities aren’t known.” In 2010, for...02 Jun Weekend Roundup: May 26 – June 1, 2012
...of Desert. Jonathan Barron commented how international criminal law is in transition from second-party to third-party punishment and Adil Haque questioned whether Andrew’s suggestions would make the international criminal law regime no longer a criminal regime or no longer a legal regime. Jens Ohlin debated Andrew’s assumption that international criminal law is fundamentally retributive and his application of social science insights about the power of moral sentiments to crowd out consequentialist calculations. Andrew’s response can be found here. The second article, by Alvaro Santos, discussed how developing countries can carve...18 Oct Håkan Friman
I am very sorry to report the shocking news, that many have already seen on Twitter, that Håkan Friman has passed away, much too young. Anyone involved in international criminal justice surely knows Håkan’s name, and more likely than not, knew Håkan personally. In addition to his many many academic publications on international criminal law (including the well-known Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure by him, Robert Cryer, Darryl Robinson, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst), Håkan was a Judge on the Solna District Court in Sweden, and also held...29 Jan Hostages and Human Dignity
News reports indicate that Jordan is engaged in frantic negotiations with the Islamic State (ISIS) over a proposed hostage swap. Jordan is apparently willing to turn over a prisoner, would-be suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi, in exchange for ISIS releasing both a Jordanian air force pilot and a Japanese captive. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, the deal appears to have collapsed. Earlier video appeared to show that another Japanese hostage was murdered by ISIS–a development that provoked shock and outrage in Japan. ISIS hostage-takers had earlier demanded $200...21 Sep Weekly News Wrap: Monday, September 21, 2015
...it has built. A senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday that additional sanctions were a possible response to any North Korea missile launch and the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said he favored deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea. Europe With a troubled peace plan for the Ukrainian conflict nearing its deadline, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will attempt a balancing act to reassure Kiev of the West’s support without antagonizing Moscow when he visits Ukraine on Monday. Bitterly-divided European leaders will seek to find...