Student Commentary

Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On June 4, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, issued a statement that may seem, to external ears, like political posturing: “The United States and Israel can’t do a damn thing.” Yet within the constitutional framework of the Islamic Republic, such utterances do not function as rhetoric alone. They operate as binding pronouncements under the system [...]

READ MORE

In today’s world, military power is no longer measured solely by missile blasts and the roar of fighter jets. Alongside every military strike runs a quieter yet far more influential battle: the war of narratives. In the latest conflict between Iran and Israel, missiles matter—but perhaps not as much as the stories told about them. [...]

READ MORE

Prime Minister Mark Carney campaigned on being different from Donald Trump. Yet his government’s first major legislative act, Bill C-2—the so-called “Strong Borders Act”—represents nothing less than a shameful capitulation to Trumpian xenophobia that fundamentally betrays Canada’s legal and moral obligations to refugees and migrants. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, who introduced this sweeping 127-page [...]

READ MORE

At a time when Western institutions continue to dominate the international legal stage, China has made a bold declaration of intent to offer an alternative narrative of global order by establishing a new mediation organization in Hong Kong. The International Organization for Mediation (IOMed)—with the participation of over 30 countries including Pakistan, Indonesia, Belarus, and [...]

READ MORE

The rise of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), particularly those enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI), has redefined the landscape of modern armed conflict. Once limited to surveillance, UAVs are now critical tools for cross-border military operations and targeted killings. As of 2023, at least 19 states have conducted drone strikes, with many more acquiring the technology. [...]

READ MORE
See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In a landmark moment for South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate decades-long allegations that successive post-apartheid governments obstructed the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. This move, prompted by a civil suit filed by survivors and relatives of apartheid victims, marks an inflection point in the country’s democratic journey. [...]

READ MORE

Rising authoritarianism, armed conflicts, and technological upheaval are eroding the foundations of international law. One state, with no army, no economic might, and physically smaller than many college campuses, continues to exert global influence through the quiet power of moral authority and legal advocacy. The Vatican, long underestimated as a relic of medieval diplomacy, arguably [...]

READ MORE

Introduction The proliferation of AI chatbots, especially those exhibiting discriminatory bias, hate speech, and the unauthorized use of public data, has raised significant ethical and legal concerns. A prominent example of these issues is the GPT-4chan bot, trained on data scraped from 4chan’s politically incorrect board (pol). Known for its chaotic nature and minimal moderation, [...]

READ MORE
Johan Bakker, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A dangerous trend, all too familiar on American campuses, is seeping into European universities: the tendency for moral certainty to curdle into censorship, and for political fashion to harden into institutional policy. In the US, we’ve witnessed how campus politics can devolve into purity tests, where disagreement leads to disqualification, and where entire groups—often Jewish [...]

READ MORE

Hungary announced its intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the beginning of April, an announcement that coincided with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the country’s capital. The visit took place amid a pending warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest issued by the ICC last November. The ICC’s Rome Statute obligates all [...]

READ MORE