Craig Martin
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craigxmartin.bsky.social
Craig Martin
@craigxmartin.bsky.social
Legal scholar: focus on international law on the use of force and armed conflict, as well as climate change law and policy; and comparative constitutional law; and host of: https://jibjabpodcast.com
Two more unlawful extrajudicial killing strikes, 6 more people killed. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Hegseth says six people killed in two new US attacks on alleged drug boats
US defense secretary says without providing evidence that dead from strikes in eastern Pacific were ‘narco-terrorists’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Some thoughts on why it’s important to keep explaining how and why the US killings of drug smugglers are not only unlawful but corrosive to the rule of law.
open.substack.com/pub/craigxma...
Extrajudicial Killings in the Caribbean
Why the Military Strikes on Alleged Drug Cartels at Sea Really Matter
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Good analysis of the SNAP issue - but I’m left wondering how there can possibly be such widespread and deep food insecurity in the richest country on Earth. 42 million people. Brutal.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/p...
The Millions of Poor Americans at the Mercy of the Shutdown
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:59 PM
This is a staggering number…
November 7, 2025 at 11:44 PM
The evidence mounts that the US is preparing for a military intervention in Venezuela:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/w...
U.S. Sends Attack Aircraft to El Salvador Amid Regional Troop Buildup
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:37 AM
A typically thorough and precise analysis by @mikeschmitt.bsky.social on @justsecurity.org, of the lawfulness of US threats to use force in Venezuela - concluding that the US is in a deepening hole of illegality.
www.justsecurity.org/123896/us-ve...
U.S. Saber Rattling and Venezuela: Lawful Show of Force or Unlawful Threat of Force?
Clearly, U.S. actions are threatening to Venezuela. But do they amount to an unlawful threat under international law?
www.justsecurity.org
November 5, 2025 at 6:25 PM
The @unep.org Emissions Gap Report for 2025 just dropped, and it forecasts a temperature increase of 2.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 if current policies continue - well above the 1.5 degree target, and likely to have disastrous consequences for humanity:
Emissions Gap Report 2025 | UNEP - UN Environment Programme
UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2025: Off Target finds that available new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have only slightly lowered global temperature rise over the course of this century, leaving the world heading for a serious escalation of climate risks and damages. UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2025: Off Target finds that available new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have only slightly lowered global temperature rise over the course of this century, leaving the world heading for a serious escalation of climate risks and damages.
www.unep.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I just re-listened to this 12-episode podcast, by Lillian Cunningham at the Washington Post, which explores the early history of the US and Soviet space programs, and it is brilliant - fascinating, illuminating, engaging, thought-provoking.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
Moonrise
History Podcast · Series · “Truer, but also darker.” This is the real origin story behind America’s decision to go to the moon. The story we learn starts with Sputnik, then President Kennedy’s challen...
podcasts.apple.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:48 PM
For those who were off the grid over the weekend ;-) New episode of JIB/JAB on extrajudicial killing on the high seas...
JIB/JAB is back for a new season - in Episode 41, I speak with @bcfinucane.bsky.social of @crisisgroup.org about the U.S. killings of alleged drug smugglers, and its implications for the international rule of law:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/j...
November 4, 2025 at 2:19 PM
JIB/JAB is back for a new season - in Episode 41, I speak with @bcfinucane.bsky.social of @crisisgroup.org about the U.S. killings of alleged drug smugglers, and its implications for the international rule of law:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/j...
November 1, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Petition now signed by over 50,000 AI experts and public figures calling for constraints on the development of AGI:
superintelligence-statement.org
Statement on Superintelligence
“We call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is (1) broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and (2) strong public bu...
superintelligence-statement.org
October 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
4 more strikes today, killing 14 more people, with one survivor left to the Mexicans to deal with - this ongoing campaign of extra-judicial killing flagrantly violates international law and reflects a notorious disregard for the rule of law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...
U.S. Military Kills 14 More People Accused of Smuggling Drugs on Boats
www.nytimes.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Kudos to @charliesavage.bsky.social and @nytimes.com for this analysis of the illegality, and implications for the rule of law, of the killings of alleged drug smugglers.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...
October 24, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The implications of our need for such an article should be clear to all…
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Who Are the Federal Forces Behind Trump’s Mass Deportations and Crime Crackdown?
As President Trump deploys ICE, Border Patrol, the National Guard and other forces to U.S. cities, here’s how to tell them apart — and what their powers are.
www.nytimes.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Exactly - current US anti-climate policy is a threat to humanity.
October 23, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Seriously, so much of the media is failing in the role of the 4th estate.
Did the New York Times have an editorial meeting where they said something like “these are trustworthy people, we should take their word, put it headlines, that’s good journalism.”

Did they go so far as to say “we should help the Trump administration sell this action”?

Or do they just sorta do it?
October 23, 2025 at 1:39 PM
This policy of deliberate and flagrant violation of international law is not merely outrageous as unlawful extrajudicial killing, but it is doing profound violence to the international rule of law - which may be one of the objectives.
SecDef announcing another (9th) lethal strike, again in the Pacific against an unspecified "designated terrorist organization."

Claims these "DTOs are the 'Al Qaeda' of our hemisphere.

Nope.

No armed attack on US like 9/11.

No AUMF.

No armed conflict.

Just more lawless premeditated killing.
October 23, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Craig Martin
@jameeljaffer.bsky.social writing about the OLC Murder Memo that serves as the permission slip for the Trump administration's lawless maritime strikes.
I wrote about Trump’s missile strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, and about the secret Justice Department opinion that underwrites them. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/o...
Opinion | The Secretive Office Approving Trump’s Boat Strikes
www.nytimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by Craig Martin
This is how the United States is responding to yesterday's International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Israel's obligations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories towards the UN, international organisations and third States.

A shameful attack on the world's highest judicial authority.
October 23, 2025 at 10:46 AM
This is such a metaphor....
a live look at the demolition of the White House's East Wing for Trump's ballroom
October 22, 2025 at 8:17 PM
The unlawful military strikes and extra-judicial killings now being conducted in the Pacific, against boats from Colombia - so much for the "armed conflict with Tren de Aragua" justification:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/u...
U.S. Strikes Boat in Pacific, Expanding Operation Against Drug Running Suspects
www.nytimes.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:15 PM
The media keep stressing that the ICJ Advisory Opinion issued today on the Obligations of Israel in relation to the UN in the Occupied Territories is "non-binding." But the obligations the opinion identified are very much binding - and Israel continues to violate many of them.
October 22, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Craig Martin
US Caribbean boat bombing campaign keeps getting worse.

Colombia says US killed Colombian fishermen in Colombian waters. Add international incident to illegal, unethical, and bad strategy.

This isn’t national security, it’s murder.

Who’s selecting these targets? Is this why Adm. Holsey resigned?
With alt text.

Executive summary: the US killed at least 3 Colombian fishermen who’d put up a distress flag. In Colombian waters
October 19, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Interesting observations on the views on war responsibility of the outgoing and incoming PMs.

Japan’s wartime history causes contemporary problems
economist.com/asia/2025/10...
Japan’s wartime history causes contemporary problems
Politicians are at loggerheads over how to remember the past
economist.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:50 PM