This editorial explores some methodological difficulties that might be faced by the practice of the critique of international criminal law (ICL). It more particularly explores what it might mean to do an ‘internal’ critique of ICL, both on a disciplinary level and an intra-disciplinary level. The editorial also addresses two important issues: (i) the ambiguities of the normative agendas of critical legal scholars; and (ii) the difficulty of dialogue between critical legal scholars and positivists. The editorial concludes with the fact that while disciplinary dialogue might not always be possible, it will always take place on a personal, more complex level, in the Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL) as elsewhere.

‘Is the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo in accordance with international law?’ It is to answer this question that the General Assembly of the United Nations (‘UNGA’) requested an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’). The request, adopted in October 20081 and initially sponsored by Serbia, was triggered by the declaration of independence of Kosovo issued on the 17 February 2008.2 Some two years later, on the 22 July 2010, the ICJ delivered its Advisory Opinion.3 By a 10–4 vote, the ICJ found that the declaration of independence of Kosovo did not violate international law.

The Kosovo Advisory Opinion gave rise to responses that suggest that the Court went too far, or not far enough, depending on one's perspective. In this article, the authors argue that the Court should either have done nothing or gone all the way. By accepting an inadequately drafted question, the Court was necessarily going to give an inadequate answer. This article adopts a strict approach to the legal nature of the question and considers that the ICJ should have declined its competence, not as an exercise of its discretion, but as a preservation of its core judicial function, which does not include primarily the conduct of non-state entities. Going further, the authors suggest that the Court could have rephrased the question and sought to establish the international responsibility of the United Nations, and, ultimately, of Kosovo, which, it is argued, is in fact implicitly recognized by the Court, both politically and legally.

This commentary argues that the Trial Chamber in Katanga adopted an erroneous interpretation of the Statute of the International Criminal Court by limiting the grounds to ne bis in idem on which a challenge to admissibility can be brought after the confirmation of charges. The Trial Chamber held that the ‘commencement of trial’ under Article 19(4) is the moment of the constitution of the Trial Chamber, rather than the making of opening statements. This commentary re-examines the legal reasoning of the Court and advocates a different reading. It also suggests that the Chamber has failed to strike a proper balance between the possibility of making challenges to admissibility and the smooth and efficient working of the proceedings, which compromises the long-term legitimacy of the institution and the interests of justice.

The stability of pipe flow when mildly deviating from the developed Poiseuille profile by a non-axisymmetric azimuthally periodic distortion is examined. The motivation for this is to consider deviations, the origin of which may be attributed to small-amplitude disturbances having sinusoidal periodicity along the azimuthal coordinate, which are known to be the ones most amplified by the transient growth linear mechanism. A mathematical technique for finding the minimum energy density of azimuthally periodic deviations triggering exponential instability is presented. The results show that owing to bifurcations multiple solutions of optimal deviations exist. As the Reynolds number is increased additional bifurcations appear and create more distinct solutions. The different solutions correspond to different radial distributions of the deviations, and at Reynolds numbers of about 2000 they are distributed over less than a half of the pipe radius. It is found that the dependence of the optimal deviation velocity leading to instability on the Reynolds number Re is approximately 20/Re. A comparison to axisymmetric base-flow deviations shows that the minimum energy required for an azimuthally periodic deviation to trigger instability is almost twice that for the axisymmetric flow. However, azimuthally periodic deviations, which are shown to have a streaky pattern, may have a role in the self-sustaining process. They may be formed as a result of a transient growth amplification of initial streamwise rolls and can produce, via self-interactions between the resulting growing waves, patterns of streamwise rolls as well.

This retrospective study was undertaken to review the short- and long-term results of 70 revision and 16 re-revision myringoplasty operations. Of the former, 43 cases (61.4 per cent) had initial success, six weeks following surgery. The leading causes of immediate failure (27 cases) were associated with a complete no- take of thegraft, infection with graft necrosis and poor anterior adaptation of the graft in decreasing order. Six out of the 43 patients developed late re-perforations during the follow-up period, thus reducing the success rate of revision myringoplasty to 52.8 per cent. Late re-perforations were attributed to insidious atrophy of the tympanic membrane or episodes of acute otitis media. Sixteen patients underwent re-revision myringoplasty and their success rate was 62.5 per cent. The overall success rate of revision and re-revision myringoplasty was 54.7 per cent. It has been concluded that results of revision myringoplastywere independent of patients' age, location and size of perforation and the seniority of the surgeon.