Principle of Non-Intervention

Page 2 of 3

Filter category

Feature post image

Some Further Thoughts on the Illegal US Attack on Venezuela: Self-Defence, Cyber, and Continuing Coercion

In this post, I want to provide a couple of thoughts on some aspects of the unlawful US attack on Venezuela on 3 January. Before doing so, however, I should simply say that I completely endorse the analyses of colleagues here on EJIL: Talk! and on Just Security. The illegality of the US military operation again Venezuela is so obvious, so manifest, and so egregious, that the issue is simply not open to reasonable disagreement. Contrary to the tepid remarks of the leaders of some US allies, and to their careful obfuscations at the Security Council meeting on Monday, there is nothing legally complex about this situation. The violations of international law are as plain as day, as is the display of shameless American imperialism. Having said that, in this post I will discuss: (1) some aspects of the justifications the US has so far offered for its actions, which, most importantly, took the lives of some 80 people; (2) the use of cyber in the…

Read more

Trump’s Illegal Attack on Venezuela and Its Consequences

Early on Saturday morning, 3 January, the United States attacked Venezuela. Aerial strikes were carried out in Caracas, Miranda, La Guaira, and Aragua, alongside covert operations conducted by special forces on the ground – actions later described by President Donald Trump as ‘an assault like people have not seen since World War II’. From an operational…

Read more

Countering the Coup in Benin: A jus ad bellum perspective

On 7 December in Benin, a small group of soldiers attempted a coup d’État. Early in the morning, after gunfire was heard around the presidency, eight armed soldiers appeared on national television, presenting themselves as the Comité militaire pour la refondation (CMR). They announced that they had deposed President Patrice Talon and proclaimed Lieutenant-Colonel Pascal Tigri as…

Read more

Effective Opposition to Summary Executions in an Escalating Phony War at Sea

President Donald Trump’s attacks on small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific began on September 2, 2025.  To date, 87 people have been killed in 23 incidents, all on the high seas. The President has justified the killings by labeling the individuals involved “narco-terrorists” and linking his policy to the terror wars of his…

Read more

International Law as a Dual State or How Not to Cope with Failure

One day in May 1933, Ernst Fraenkel, a German labor lawyer, was formally notified that, being Jewish, he was prohibited from representing clients before the courts of the Third Reich. As a veteran of the First World War, he was ultimately able to obtain an exemption and practice law in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1938. It is…

Read more