Over 200 people have now been murdered in the American unlawful extra-judicial killings in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Where is the international condemnation and outrage?! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Ah, the ironies...raising barriers against immigration just as the country confronts the crisis of a rapidly declining and aging population...

I return to the subject of Japan's constitution in this chapter, published as the proceeds of a conference at the Univ. of Milan, which examines the impact of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine on the pacifist principles in the constitutions of Italy and Japan. Abstract 👇 and link in reply.

Some good climate news, and how it is being distorted and weaponized by the climate sceptics. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Reporting on an investigation into the victims of US extrajudicial killing in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, identifying 13 of the victims. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Wilful blindness…and a violation of the obligation to investigate possible violations of IHL.

The Trump admin is pivoting toward #nuclear energy to fuel the #AI revolution. But the admin is “rewriting the relationship” between innovation, risk, & accountability, argue @michaeljkelly.bsky.social & @craigxmartin.bsky.social

Out in @justsecurity.org, Mike Kelly (@michaeljkelly.bsky.social) and I argue that govt fast-tracking of nuclear power for AI data centers is dangerously dismantling three interlocking regulatory regimes—nuclear safety, AI oversight, and environmental review. www.justsecurity.org/138215/nucle...

What the US is doing to the Cuban people is unconscionable - immoral, and arguably unlawful. It is also ineffective and counterproductive. Inexcusable. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...

Teaching comparative constitutional law at Università Cattolica in Milan has become a favorite rite of spring! Always such a great group of students, in an amazing city. Many thanks to my gracious host, Barbara Boschetti!

An outstanding choice! Former Supreme Court Justice, Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY and ICTR, Head of Int'l Crisis Group - and now Gov. Gen. - what a career and contribution to Canada. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

The unlawful extra-judicial killings continue, each murder undermining the international rule of law, affecting us all. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

50,000 people protested in Tokyo over the weekend, in opposition to gov’t proposals to amend Art. 9 of the Constitution, to relax constraints on the use of force and participation in armed conflict. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

If anyone happens to be in Milan tomorrow afternoon, drop by the University of Milan for a robust discussion of Japan's war-renouncing constitution and its relationship with the UN jus ad bellum system.

For those who may have missed it …

New episode of JIB/JAB - a fascinating and important discussion with @janinadill.bsky.social and @monicahakimi.bsky.social on how the attacks on Iran impact the crisis in int'l law, what follows, and how legal scholars and states should respond. Wherever you get your podcasts, or link in comment:

It was uplifting to hear Philippe Sands’ clear-eyed but modestly optimistic analysis of the current crisis in international law, in the Grotius Lecture opening #ASIL2026

The 52nd unlawful use of lethal military force in extrajudicial killings, with at least 180 people murdered. A vilation of domestic and international law. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/u...

“The Trump administration’s relentless bullying ignores a central lesson from classical antiquity: Athens’s shift from benevolent hegemony to malevolent empire paved its road to ruin.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/o...

“We are witnessing the continuing utmost contempt for the international legal order, for diplomacy, and above all for the lives of civilians and the environment in Lebanon,” www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

Lest we lose sight of this - the US continues to flagrantly violate international and domestic law with extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals at sea. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

On the US war against Iran as America’s “Suez moment.” The analogy fits. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/w...

Where is the global outrage and condemnation as Trump threatens war crimes on a massive scale? Not just Iran, but the entire Int’l legal system is in peril. World leaders must take a stand.

Thanks to @eelarson.bsky.social @bloomberg.com for covering the concerns I share with so many other international lawyers about Trump's threats of war crimes in Iran: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Spread the word…

So this is how the @washingtonpost.com reports on the President's threat to commit blatant war crimes...it "underscores tensions.."

I join over 100 US-based international law experts in condemning the unlawful acts of aggression by the US and Israel against Iran, as well as many violations of IHL, including potential war crimes, committed by all sides in the conduct of this conflict. www.justsecurity.org/135423/profe...

Evidence that the US struck another school in Iran in the first days of the war, killing 21 and injuring over a hundred civilians. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/w...

So, we’ve arrived. An era in which the public can’t be sure what is real and what is not, and the cynical can exploit this doubt for all sorts of nefarious ends. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

There’s an argument to be made that these strikes, particularly those on oil and gas facilities, are not only part of an unlawful act of aggression, and strikes on civilian objects in violation of IHL, but a violation of climate law obligations. The war worsens the climate crisis.

Boat strikes still happening. IOW, US displaying its immense ability to violate international law pretty much anywhere.

The bottom line is that NATO was not intended to support unlawful wars of aggression by one of its members. They need to hold firm...

This is so typical - starting a timeline that purports to explain US-Iranian relations in 1979 and the hostage crisis, ignoring 1953 and the CIA led coup to overthrow a democratic regime and install the Shah in Iran. Very poor @nytimes.com. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/w...

Virtually no war is ever “inevitable”. They are the culmination of policy choices - and different choices can almost always lead to non-violent outcomes. This war was absolutely a choice, and an unwise and unlawful one to boot.

"The overriding priority now is lethality, and protecting civilians 'has been de-emphasized across the targeting and strike community,' one person familiar with the matter told me." www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/u...

This is remarkable - whether incompetence or market manipulation

My analysis of the sinking of the Iranian worship by a US sub — with CDR Elizabeth "Liz" Hutton (USCG) of the Naval War College’s Stockton Center

Is Canada sending people to this?

People need to stop discussing the mid-term elections in terms of traditional regular politics, and wake up to the threat: www.propublica.org/article/elec...

Read our analysis of the video showing a US Tomahawk missile strike next to Girls’ School in Iran on February 28 here: www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...

My thoughts on how to assess the lawfulness under IHL of the air strike on the primary school in Minab, Iran earlier this week, based on an interview with the newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour - link in first reply 👇

PIL Folk - does anyone have a good starter pack for Public International Law folks? I need it to get the Canadian Yearbook of International Law established here on BlueSky!

Sound call - not to be complicit in an unlawful act of aggression.

Trump admin officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack U.S. forces first. That undercuts one of the key arguments for the war made by senior admin officials. www.reuters.com/world/us/pen...

Call for papers from the Canadian Yearbook on Int'l Law - "The Use of Force in Recent Conflicts" - certainly topical, with lots of unfortunate recent material to draw upon.

Our primary insight into how the Trump Admin lawyers* war powers comes from the OLC memo they published on the Venezuela strikes and capture of Maduro. My analysis here:

The mainstream media are providing virtually no legal analysis of the US/Israeli attacks on Iran - calling it like a geopolitical drama playing out in a legal and moral vacuum, with no thought to the implications for the int'l rule of law. Irresponsible and disturbing.