Türkiye police detain several people suspected of planning attacks ahead of local elections
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced Sunday the arrest of 33 suspects alleged to be connected to the Islamic State (IS) on charges of “preparing and seeking action before the upcoming local elections,” of having provided “personnel to conflict zone” and “financial aid to the organization within the scope of financing terrorism,” ahead of the [...]
Explainer: The Israel-Hamas War and the International Criminal Court
The current conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine raises significant issues of international law and policy. This is part one in an anticipated two-part series that will discuss some of the relevant legal questions before the International Criminal Court (ICC; Part I) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ; Part II). With both courts located in [...]
Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired United States Army Colonel who held key roles in government, including serving as Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005. Wilkerson played a role in preparing US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation in 2003 at the United Nations in making the case for [...]
This Day in History: The Law of Gobblers and Other Tasty Sides
It is Thanksgiving Day. The aroma of turkey; of dressing; candied sweet potatoes; green bean casserole; cranberry sauce; freshly baked yeast rolls; giblet gravy, and of pies emanating from the kitchen fills our nostrils. Home is the place to be today. But have you ever given thought to the law of the gobbler? This Day in [...]
International watchdog CIVICUS finds Bangladesh civic space is 'repressed'
International civil society watchdog CIVICUS added Bangladesh on Thursday to its CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist and rated the civic space in Bangladesh as “repressed,” the watchdog’s second lowest rating. The CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist rates the civic space of jurisdictions based on expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of association. CIVICUS stated it added Bangladesh to its watchlist because [...]
Israel, Counter-Terrorism, and International Law: The Analytic Challenges of 'System'
“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959) Whether conspicuous or obscure, terrorism generally presents itself as a systemic challenge. This means, inter alia, that seemingly singular strategic and legal matters may actually be many-sided and interrelated. Regarding legal issues, though [...]
UN raises nearly $1.2B to assist with escalating humanitarian crisis in Yemen
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres Monday led a pledging event to raise funds to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in Yemen which has been ongoing since 2014. UN Relief Coordinator Martin Griffith praised the 31 pledgees who contributed a total of $1.16 billion in funds, despite falling short of the UN’s goal of $4.3 billion. [...]
“The Worst Does Sometime Happen”: Avoiding a Nuclear War Over Ukraine
Abstract: Earlier, as part of Russia’s escalating aggression against Ukraine – an aggression that now includes armed attack on a nuclear power plant – President Vladimir Putin placed his nuclear forces on high alert. Correspondingly, the United States should now recalibrate how best to “play” the increasingly complex “games” of military nuclear strategy. Most worrisome, [...]
International Law in the “State of Nature”: A Contradiction in Terms
“Where there is no Common Power, there is no Law….” Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter XIII The “State of Nature” as “State of War” From its modern beginnings in the seventeenth century – more precisely, since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 – international law has presumed firm distinctions between “national interest” and “world interest.” Rather [...]
Picture a swarm of drones entering a village programmed to fly without a human operator with instructions to shoot or immobilize anyone it deems to be holding a weapon. While this might sound like a scene from Lana Wachowski’s latest Matrix film, the technology to build these killer robots is already here. Unless states act [...]
