President Obama’s Nobel Prize speech yesterday made reference to the moral authority, under the ethics of the just war, for armed humanitarian intervention in some situations. It is a topic that has been debated and discussed as a matter of international law for, well, a long time, but which gained particular urgency following on Bosnia, […]
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Obama and the Universal Golden Rule
Over at National Review Online, Cliff May, who is right 99.9% of the time, makes a rare error. He questions President Obama’s Nobel Prize speech claim that “the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” May points […]
Three cheers for President Obama!
For his very good speech accepting the Nobel Prize. Our President affirmed the principle of “just war,” and the righteousness of sometimes using unilateral force against tyranny, for “There will be times when nations–acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.” In words reminiscent of […]
Targeted Killing, Safe Havens, and the President’s West Point Speech
By Kenneth Anderson on December 8, 2009 11:15 am in Afghanistan, Bush, Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Law, Targeted Killing, Terrorism, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Several times in his West Point speech on Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Obama declared that the US would not permit Al Qaeda or “violent extremists” the use of safe havens. He specifically noted Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The President unsurprisingly never overtly mentioned Predator or drone missile strikes, or the CIA as the operational agents […]
Landmines and the Obama Administration
By Kenneth Anderson on November 28, 2009 11:24 am in International Human Rights Law, International Law, War and Armed Conflict
Where is the Obama administration currently on the Ottawa Landmines Ban Convention? The question is on the public table with the opening in a few days of the Cartagena Review Conference, the second diplomatic conference to review the treaty. The Ottawa Convention banning landmines was opened for signature in 1997 and entered into force in […]
Law and Robotics Panel at Stanford Law School
By Kenneth Anderson on November 6, 2009 11:15 am in Academia, California, International Human Rights Law, International Law, Robotics, War and Armed Conflict
If you are going to be around Palo Alto next Thursday evening, you might consider attending a panel discussion on robotics and law at Stanford Law School. I’ll be on a panel alongside some very interesting and knowledgeable folks taking up varied aspects of robotics (my particular interest is robotics and war, but the panel […]