Syria
553 Articles
Humanitarian Intervention and Global Legal Norms
Thank you to Harold Koh for spurring (here and here) a discussion about some of the most important issues of our time—on matters concerning wars of choice and building an effective…
Syria and the Law of Humanitarian Intervention (Part III – A Reply)
My recent two-part essay on Syria, posted on this blog, made both a policy claim and a legal claim. My policy claim was that despite undeniable political miscues, President Obama’s…
Maj. Kurt M. Sanger, Letter to the Editor: Response to Harold Koh’s Just Security post of Oct 2, 2013
While considering Harold Koh’s interpretation of the UN Charter and its justifications for the use of force against Syria, try standing in the shoes of foreign ministers in China…
Harold Koh’s Case for Humanitarian Intervention
The week before last, Harold Koh posted a defense of President Obama’s authority to use force in Syria without congressional authorization. Last week Professor Koh turned to…
Syria and the Law of Humanitarian Intervention (Part II: International Law and the Way Forward)
My first post for Just Security explained why, despite some bungled politics, President Obama’s proposed military action in Syria could have been lawful under U.S. domestic law.…
Security Council Resolution on Syria is Final but Russia Begins Chipping Away
On Friday, I posted an analysis of the draft Security Council Resolution on Syria questioning the strength and scope of its legal obligations. The United Nations has now released…
Are the Press Reports of the Security Council’s Draft Syria Resolution Accurate? How weak or strong is it?
After weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the permanent members of the Security Council emerged last night with a compromise draft resolution on chemical weapons in Syria. The key part…
Syria and the Law of Humanitarian Intervention (Part I: Political Miscues and U.S. Law)
Crises are lived forward but understood backwards. While it is still too early to know how the Syria crisis of 2013 will end, we can start evaluating what precedents of law and…
On Syria, The System Worked
President Barack Obama’s critics have been virtually unanimous in their condemnation of his decision to ask Congress for authorization to use military force against Syria. …
Will Syria Redefine the Just War?
The past month’s Syria debates have focused on issues of policy and morality, with international law a distant third. The nearly universal agreement that the moral issues matter…
Just War in Syria and the U.S. Intervention Syllogism
First, I would just like to note that I am honored to be a part of the founding team of the Just Security blog and look forward to engaging with colleagues and readers throughout…
The U.S.-Russia Agreement on Syrian Chemical Weapons: More Questions Than Answers
The Framework Agreement negotiated by the United States and the Russian Federation to bring Syria’s chemical weapons under international control seems like an elegant way out…