Sounds like Alien v Predator. Well, the Supreme Court might have taken up that question, but in the event, decided not to get involved with it. My Opinio Juris co-blogger Duncan Hollis explains at OJ. The case handed down today is Samantar v Yousef. I concur with Duncan’s takeaway: For human rights activists, however, the case […]
Author Archive | Kenneth Anderson
Drone Warfare, the CIA, and Charlie Savage’s NYT Article
By Kenneth Anderson on May 28, 2010 6:42 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Law, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Charlie Savage reports in the NYT today that Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial execution, will be coming out with a new report next week calling on the US government to withdraw the CIA from conducting drone strikes and giving it over to the US military instead. The article has an extended and […]
Clandestine Military Operations
By Kenneth Anderson on May 25, 2010 10:02 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The New York Times, in a story by national security correspondent Mark Mazzetti today (Tuesday, May 25, 2010), reveals the contents of a September 2009 secret directive signed by General Petraeus ordering “broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other […]
‘The Rise of International Criminal Law’
If you are interested in deep academic discussions of international law, international criminal law, their development and practice, the European Journal of International Law blog is having an online discussion of an article of mine, The Rise of International Criminal Law, featuring Amrita Kapur and Brad Roth. (Highly theoretical and academic; not everyone’s cup of […]
The Changing Conflict in Pakistan, and Targeted Killing
By Kenneth Anderson on May 20, 2010 12:26 am in Afghanistan, Counter-Terrorism Policy, Targeted Killing, War on Terror
Adam Entous, military affairs correspondent for Reuters, has authored, along with several colleagues, an outstanding, smart, balanced, and well-reported story on the evolution of drone warfare and targeted killing. A lot of reporting effort went into this story – this is not just an instance of a reporter being offered a little nugget of inside […]
More Musing on Liquidity and Solvency Distinctions in Sovereign Debt Crises
I want to return again briefly to how the traditional distinction of liquidity and insolvency in a crisis applies to sovereign states such as Greece. Liquidity is usually thought of as a gap in information that causes investors, creditors, depositors or others to suddenly question an institution’s financial position. In the classic bank run, the […]
The EU SPV
Anna Gelpern’s post on the Roubini blog (that I posted on earlier) had an interesting point I wanted to follow up. She remarks in passing, “apropos commitment, isn’t it interesting that the European Commission will issue collateralized debt (secured by its €141bn budget)?” Indeed, and even more interesting that the bulk of the bailout fund […]
Anna Gelpern on Greek Sovereign Debt
My colleague and a rising star in sovereign debt studies, Anna Gelpern, has a new and important post at the Roubini blog, on the question of where Greece goes with the new announcement of a trillion-dollar fund. The opening: Leading economists and editorialists say Greece will restructure its debt (here, here, here, here and here are just a […]
Comparative Demographic Charts on Aging Populations
Clemens Kownatzki at Business Insider talks today about the effects of demography on public pension liabilities in different countries. The article has great OECD data organized as charts by 5 year age groups, showing population distribution today and projected for 2050 – for Greece, the US, and Japan. Excellent graphics and sobering reading. The current […]
Peter Spiro on Lieberman’s Citizenship-Stripping Legislation
I am not an expert on the law of citizenship in the United States, but my Opinio Juris co-blogger Peter Spiro is. Over at OJ he has a short doctrinal analysis of the case law that would likely be relevant to Joe Lieberman’s citizenship-stripping proposal. It seems to me analytically sound, although I do not […]
The Palestinian Authority and the ICC
My Opinio Juris co-blogger, Julian Ku, has posted up a note on submissions recently made to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s office on the question of ICC jurisdiction: Last year, the Palestinian National Authority filed a declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. This declaration is controversial, to say the least, because it […]
California’s Woes and Prop 13
I guess a better title would be “California’s Woes and Prop 13, Not.” Also, never let it be said that Our Volokh Conspiracy – and its commenters – do not drive the intellectual agenda. William Voegeli, a couple of whose articles on California’s finances have been linked here (see California tag), and who also provided […]
“Pour encourager les autres”
Running around the track tonight, I found myself musing over the famous ironic expression by Voltaire in Candide: “pour encourager les autres.” The more I thought about it, the less convinced I was that I understood it, in the sense of being able to come up with cleverly parallel situations in which the irony of […]
A Follow-on Drone Hearing
By Kenneth Anderson on May 1, 2010 11:10 pm in International Human Rights Law, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, chaired by Rep. John Tierney, held a second hearing (Wednesday, April 28, 2010), once again on the topic of drone warfare. The first, held back on March 23, was focused on the technology of UAVs; this follow-up hearing was specifically about targeted killing and drone warfare. […]
Lite Blogging
I’m afraid I’ve been lite-blogging for a while and will be around less than usual on account of some deadline pressures. Once I get back from this current trip, I’ll post something about the last hearing on drones that Rep. John Tierney’s subcommittee held on Wednesday, and also some stuff related to the derivatives bill. […]