Search Results for: drones

The US House of Representatives approved an amendment to the defense bill for fiscal year 2020 on Friday that would require the president to obtain congressional approval before ordering a military strike against Iran. The amendment passed 251-170, largely along party lines but with 27 Republican representatives signing on. The bill itself, the 2020 National [...]

“Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration.”-US President Donald Trump, June 23, 2019 “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it  is forced to defend itself or its allies we will have no choice but to totally [...]

US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Iran, citing “aggressive behaviors by the Iranian regime in recent weeks.” The sanctions block Iran’s leadership from access to the US financial system or any other assets in the US. The order also allows the Secretary of the Treasury to sanction anyone [...]

Targeted killing campaigns are still accelerating under the Trump administration, with fewer constraints and even less transparency. More precisely, it seems that the Obama-era Presidential Policy Guidance has been relaxed in two very meaningful ways: targets of “kill missions” are being expanded to include more Jihadist “Foot Soldiers” (rather than just identifiable terrorist leaders) and directed drone [...]

US air strikes are resulting in civilian casualties in Somalia, Amnesty International reported Wednesday. The report details five incidents resulting in 14 civilian casualties, with eight more civilians injured within the past two years. These issues began to draw increased international humanitarian attention during Barack Obama’s administration. In October 2016 the administration “broadened the president’s [...]

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday reversing an Obama-era order requiring intelligence agencies to report deaths from airstrikes in noncombat conflict zones. The new order revokes the requirement put into place by Barack Obama’s executive order that was originally intended to increase transparency between the government and the public after the [...]

As the world turns inward, nationalistic perspectives are on the rise. It feels like 1930, where the international order laid out in the Versailles Treaty, was about to be turned upside down. Today, something terrible is lurking around the corner, sitting in the shadows of anarchy and fascism. The rule of law tentatively steps forward [...]

Amnesty International (AI) called upon countries to ban fully autonomous weapons systems  on Monday, the first day of the UN’s Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems  meeting. AI states that technology related to advanced weapons systems are outpacing international law. Future technologies may be able to replicate [...]

Venezuela’s pro-government National Constituent Assembly voted unanimously to strip two members of the opposition-controlled legislature of their immunity accusing them of playing a role in the attempted assassination of President Nicolás Maduro. The move comes after the Venezuela Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the two lawmakers, Julio Borges and Juan Reuesens, on Wednesday. The [...]

Here's the international legal news we covered this week: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday in favor of the Yukon First Nations in their action to fight the Yukon government's proposed plan to allow further economic development...