The United Nations was founded in 1945 on the premise that the use of force was to be used only as a last resort. Yet, several decades later a tyrant once again is using force to resolve a “dispute”. In 1945, the world had just finished a war where Europe had been devastated. Stung by [...]
Essence, Existence and the Moaning of the Bar: In Memory of Judge James Crawford The passing of one of the undisputable greats of international law, Judge (Professor) James Richard Crawford (1948 – 2021) who embodied a towering intellectual rigour with great good humour, generosity and warmth is a momentous loss to the world of international [...]
The Boston Globe has a new series on Future Proofing the Presidency, making a case for prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Just for the record, in DC the basic Presidential criminality approach is: 1) The President gets an interpretation of the law from a lawyer somewhere such as in the Office of Legal Counsel [...]
In 2006 as the Human Rights Council was being set up, I wrote an opinion piece on this website in which I shared, among other aspects, my impressions as to how the Council would shape up. Experience thus far produced mixed assessment. The transition from the Commission to the Council took a couple of years, [...]
On 16th February 2021, the Supreme Court of India asked the Central Government to take measures to regulate content on over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India asked the Indian Government to submit a reply to the Public Interest Litigation seeking the [...]
The future of the Islamist terrorist groups in Afghanistan and their eagerness to control the country in order to expand their influence all over South Asia will be ascertained by the end of April, 2021, depending on the extent to which US President Joe Biden is agreeable to go ahead with the decision of his [...]
As of the second week of February 2021, there have been a total of 466 COVID-19 cases registered in Cambodia, 443 recoveries and 0 deaths. Cambodia is managing the COVID-19 pandemic well in comparison to global superpowers. This achievement can be contrasted with the United Kingdom, where there have been a total of 3,817,176 cases, [...]
“The egocentric ideal of a future reserved for those who have managed to attain egoistically the extremity of `everyone for himself’ is false and against nature.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man From time immemorial, world politics have been rooted in Realpolitik or power politics. Although such patterns of thinking are normally [...]
“The loftier the soul, the more it feels the unity that there is in us all.” – Rabbi Avraham Kook By any reasonable standard, the belligerent nationalism of Realpolitik or power politics makes no sense. After all, without exception, this zero-sum mantra of “everyone-for-himself” clearly undermines every country’s national security. Most perplexing, perhaps, is that [...]
Photo Caption: In the early 60’s Ben and Dorothy Davis integrated the all-white Brookside Elementary School in Montclair, New Jersey I watched the debates in the House with respect to impeachment. I was struck by all the citations to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural by all sides in the debates, with his emphasis on healing of the [...]
