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Search: kony 2012

21 Jul

This week on Opinio Juris, Julian Ku discussed how the announcement by two US Senators of their position against ratification of the UNCLOS, has effectively sunk ratification for this year, and argued that the next administration should seek out bilateral agreements to protect commercial exploitation of the seabed on the high seas. Deborah Pearlstein argued why the US, even if it is not at war with Yemen, is at war in Yemen, and discussed the legal consequences thereof. Kevin Jon Heller gave four reasons why the ICC should...
21.07.12 | |

11 Sep

China has dispatched patrol ships after Japan has said it will nationalize two disputed islands in the East China Sea. The Afghan Taliban have now denied a report that they would enter into peace talks with authorities. Saeed al-Shihri, second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been killed , according to Yemini authorities. Foreign Policy has more here . The United States has transferred control over Bagram prison to Afghan authorities. Three Afghan security personnel members have been killed in a missile attack on Bagram air...
11.09.12 | |

16 Jun

This week on Opinio Juris, we launched our first Readers’ Survey. Your input is valued so we hope you will find a spare ten minutes to complete yours if you have not yet done so. If you want, you can enter your e-mail address in the draw to win a $100 Amazon gift voucher. In our regular posts this week, Kevin Jon Heller asked about publishing etiquette when reviewing a journal essay that has already been published as a substantial blog post. Many readers offered their views in...
16.06.12 | |

24 Sep

Leaders of Sudan and South Sudan met late Sunday to discuss borders and oil exports peace negotiations between the two countries have not yet finalized, with a breakthrough in security negotiations not yet reached. Syria’s internal opposition met in Damascus amid airstrikes calling for a cessation of hostilities. A day after China called off celebrations on the 40th anniversary of Japanese-Chinese relations, it has sent three ships to patrol the waters around the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. Despite protests, experts say that military conflict...
24.09.12 | |

05 Jun

More today about targeted killing, to complement our book symposia: The US’ targeting of senior al-Qaeda leaders is straining relations with Pakistan, and Pakistan has condemned the most recent US drone strikes. Foreign Policy offers a look at the top Pakistani diplomat charged with renewing a good rapport with the US. The G7 will hold emergency talks about the Eurozone today. Talks between Sudan and South Sudan have begun, but not before the fighting has caused 35,000 refugees to flee from Sudan to South Sudan. The UN...
05.06.12 | |

15 Nov

Israel has hammered the Gaza Strip in a series of airstrikes, one of which has killed Hamas’ military commander Ahmad Jabari. The United Nations Population Fund has declared contraception and family planning to be a human right having a positive effect on economic development. Unlike France, the United States has stopped short of recognizing Syria’s opposition coalition. Nigerian lawmakers have passed a bill criminalizing same-sex marriage. The International Monetary Fund is prepared to offer funds to assist in recovery in Tunisia, a country reeling from last year’s...
15.11.12 | |

20 Dec

Al Qaeda has staged a comeback in Syria, posing a dilemma for the opposition fighting to remove President Bashar al-Assad and making the West balk at military backing for the revolt. The United Nations Security Council members, except for the United States, have condemned Israel’s latest plans to construct thousands of settlement homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN Security Council also strongly condemned the ongoing attacks and atrocities carried out by the Lord’s Resistance Army and urged that the UN regional strategy designed...
20.12.12 | |

25 Aug

With the start of the US academic year just around the corner, activity picked up here at Opinio Juris this week. There certainly wasn’t a shortage of international law items to discuss… First, there is of course the diplomatic spat between the UK and Ecuador over Julian Assange’s extradition to Sweden. Once Kevin was done banging his head on the table after yet another news article confusing the ICJ and the ICC, he reposted Mark Klamberg’s discussion on the likelihood of Assange’s extradition from Sweden to the US....
25.08.12 | |

05 May

This week on Opinio Juris, Chen Guangcheng’s escape to the US Embassy in Beijing did not go unnoticed. In a first post, Julian Ku discussed how Chen would not get political asylum at the Embassy. Peter Spiro followed up with his thoughts on diplomatic asylum. After Chen’s departure from the US Embassy, Julian asked whether the US or China violated international law. Julian also had a closer look at the content and legal status of the US-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement that Obama went to sign in Afghanistan. Duncan...
05.05.12 | |

04 Apr

A part of the Syrian peace plan, brokered at the behest of Kofi Annan, includes the deployment of 250 UN peacekeepers for a ceasefire monitoring mission, scheduled for arrival in Syria in the next 48 hours. Russia accuses the “Friends of Syria” group that met in Istanbul over the weekend of undermining the UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan. After bombs exploded over the weekend, killing 13 in the south of Thailand, police officials fear more attacks based in religious tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in...
04.04.12 | |

06 Jul

The Transnational Federal Government of Somalia has signed an action plan backed by the UN to stop the use of child soldiers. Ex-Argentine president Jorge Videla was sentenced to 50 years in prison for stealing babies from prisoners during Argentina’s “Dirty War.” The Foreign Minister of Iraq claims that al-Qaeda is flowing into Syria, posing potential threats to the stability of the entire region. An online poll on a state-owned news network in Iran showed a large majority of responses favoring suspension of the uranium enrichment programme...
06.07.12 | |

22 May

Iraq is buying US-made drones in order to carry out surveillance over their oil fields. After a suicide bomber kills 90 people in Yemen, al-Qaeda vows more attacks until the US-backed campaign against militants stops. The US is apparently weighing their stance on secrecy of the drone program employed to carry out targeted killings, according to the Wall Street Journal. Former dictator of Guatemala, Efrain Rios Montt, will face a second genocide trial after a judge ordered he could be prosecuted for ordering a 1982 massacre that...
22.05.12 | |