At least from the text, John Brennan seems to have positioned the speech that he delivered yesterday at the Wilson Center (that Marty linked to) as the capstone of the Obama Administration's transparency campaign on drones and targeted killings in the conflict with al Qaeda. He made a point of referencing the string of other Administration figures that...
China and Russia are resisting calls for sanctions against Sudan and South Sudan being pushed by the United States and other Western nations within the UN Security Council. South Sudan has claimed that Sudan bombed oil fields yesterday in the latest clash between the two nations. The decision on Dominique Strauss-Kahn's immunity in the civil law suit brought against him by the Sofitel housekeeper is...
Brennan's speech, given today at the Wilson International Center, can be found here. I don't have time to blog about it now; but in any event, it is more detailed than the previous Administration statements on the same subject and I think it largely speaks for itself. Substantive comments welcome....
In Sudan/South Sudan news, the Sudanese army has arrested four Westerners on a de-mining mission in South Sudan. China is lending $8 billion to South Sudan to finance infrastructure projects. Sudan has declared an emergency in the border area with the South and the recent split between the two countries has brought about questions of nationality. The ICJ has issued a press release on the election of its newest judge, Dalveer...
This is the fourth installment of our new feature; last week’s announcements can be found here. If you are organizing a conference or other event and would like to see the call for papers or the program announced on Opinio Juris, please contact us. Calls for Papers: Transnational Dispute Management has issued a call for papers on "Aligning Human Rights and Investment Protection." Topics of...
I'm just back from the U.S. Naval Academy and a great conference put on by the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership: Warfare in a New Domain: The Ethics of Military Cyber Operations. Ed Barrett pulled together a truly impressive group of technologists, international lawyers, philosophers, ethicists, active duty military personnel and US Government officials to weigh in on existing cyberthreats and...
Kevin Jon Heller kicked us off this week with posts about the ICC’s report regarding Gaddafi’s situation in Libya and the infighting at the ICC between the Prosecutor and Libyan authorities. He also added a post about the OPCD report outlining Saif Gaddafi’s attitude about the ICC. Peter Spiro previewed the Arizona SB-1070 immigration case before the Supreme Court, discussing why...
ECOWAS will dispatch troops to both Mali and Guinea-Bissau in order to swiftly reinstate civilian rule after recent coups. In a Reuters exclusive, the US Senate, after a three-year investigation, is expected to find that the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used failed to yield counterterrorism breakthroughs. As a result of ongoing clashes between Sudan and South Sudan, the United States has circulated a...
The Special Court for Sierra Leone gave its verdict today in the Charles Taylor case. The Court found Taylor criminally responsible for aiding and abetting on all 11 counts in the indictment. The Court found that the prosecution failed to prove individual criminal responsibility (no effective control over the RUF) and joint criminal enterprise. Sentencing is scheduled for May 30th. Our Kevin...
I don't have much to add to Peter's pithy and insightful take on the Supreme Court's oral argument today in Arizona v. United States. I just wanted to emphasize the difficulty the federal government had in advancing, even rhetorically, its view that the federal government has an "exclusive" role in the management of immigration policy and foreign affairs. Solicitor General...
Transcript of today's argument before the Supreme Court here. Not a lot of fireworks. The key takeaway: the Court (including some on the left) didn't seem to have much problem with section 2 of the Arizona law, which requires law enforcement to undertake immigrant status determinations in the course of stops or arrests where there is reasonable suspicion that a person...
US authorities have arrested the first suspect in the BP oil spill case for allegedly destroying evidence linked to the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Pakistan has successfully tested a nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile, approximately a week after India did the same. The International Criminal Court is closely monitoring the situation in Mali, following the surge in violence since January. While...
