Arms Control
64 Articles

If US and UK Have Joined the Fighting in Yemen, What’s Their Duty to Investigate Alleged Saudi War Crimes?
Air strike in Sana’a, May 2015. Image by Ibrahem Qasim – Wikimedia If the United States and United Kingdom (have) become not just supporters of the Saudi-led coalition…

The Strategic Balance: A New US-Russian Zero Sum Game
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…

Can States Legally Provide Targeting Assistance to War Criminals?
Last week, when I challenged an argument for US liability for war crimes in Yemen, I didn’t anticipate ending up on the other side of a (somewhat heated) Twitter debate with…

If the Saudi-Led Coalition is Committing War Crimes, the US is Aiding and Abetting Them
A few days ago, Ryan Goodman announced on Twitter that we should expect “a challenge to (some) critics of Defense Department support to Saudi Arabia.” Jay Shooster published…

Are the U.S. and U.K. parties to the Saudi-led armed conflict against the Houthis in Yemen?
A series of posts at Just Security have focused on the rules that apply to U.S. and U.K. support for the Saudi-led coalition’s military operations against the Houthi rebels…

Senators Move to Block US Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia
A bipartisan group of four US senators yesterday introduced a joint resolution aimed at blocking the U.S. sale of more than $1.15 billion in M1 Abrams tanks and other weapons…

UK Parliamentary Committee Draft Report Calls for Pause in Weapons Exports to Saudi Arabia
This post was first published at 12:45am. A powerful body of the UK Parliament, the Committees of Arms Export Controls, has stated in a draft report that billions of dollars in…

The Law of Aiding and Abetting (Alleged) War Crimes: How to Assess US and UK Support for Saudi Strikes in Yemen
US and UK support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen have received significant attention recently due to reports of strikes that damaged or destroyed hospitals, schools,…

State Responsibility for Assistance to Foreign Forces (aka How to Assess US-UK Support for Saudi Ops in Yemen)
Airstrikes in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition have received increased attention in the last few weeks. In her recent post, Beth Van Schaack noted that in addition to the potential…

Give the Nuclear Framework a Chance
Based on an initial reading, I believe the framework for a nuclear agreement with Iran is worth trying to develop into a concrete deal, as long as the US-led coalition stays tough…

Guest Post: To Ban New Weapons or Regulate Their Use?
In January, I highlighted the apparent anomaly of international law’s ban on laser weapons that are “specifically designed … to cause permanent blindness” while permitting…

The Arms Trade Treaty Enters Into Force
On Christmas Eve, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT, text here) entered into force in record time following the attainment of 50+ ratifications. The ATT is the first multilateral treaty…