We the peoples… …reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, …establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained [...]
This commentary proposes that a high-profile political leader, such as former prime minister Imran Khan, who recently suffered an assassination attempt at a public rally, should be declared a “permanent protectee” of Pakistan’s State Security. The notion of the permanent protectee, borrowed from U.S. security laws, empowers secret security services to seize and whisk away [...]
The US Supreme Court last week denied a petition from Pennsylvania Republicans to invalidate the state legislative maps adopted by the 2021 Pennsylvania Legislative Redistricting Commission. This leaves in place a ruling from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that okayed the maps, a win for fair district advocates in the run-up to the November 8 midterms. [...]
“That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary…: Rabbi Hillel, Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a Israel’s continuous support for Donald J. Trump represents a grim irony of Jewish history. Even before the latest revelations concerning this former president’s anti-Semitic outbursts (that is, his [...]
It is my belief that the protest movement that has swept Iran since Sep. 16 is a feminist uprising. It all started with the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was detained for wearing what was termed “improper hijab” — i.e., failure to adequately comply with Iran’s mandatory head-covering requirement for women. [...]
“Defenseless under the night, our world in stupor lies….” — W H Auden Background of the Current Nuclear War Threat Since August 6, 1945, the “official” start of the Nuclear Age, humankind has been acquainting itself with new meanings of catastrophic conflict. Still, until now, until current Russian aggressions against Ukraine, tangible portents of any [...]
Article 27 of the Iranian Constitution states that protesters are permitted to gather and march so long as weapons aren’t involved, their message is not anti-Islamic, and they first obtain permission from the Interior Ministry. But while protest may be legal in theory, practice points to a very different reality. The Interior Ministry has not [...]
What rights should we have in a society increasingly being scrutinized, monitored, and controlled via the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? That’s a good question. To address this thorny and unresolved legal issue, the US White House released on October 4, 2022, a white paper informally referred to as an AI Bill of Rights, which more [...]
“All our dignity consists in thought.” – Blaise Pascal, Pensées For the most part, penetrating thought on politics remains the veiled province of academic specialists. Though such thought can never become appropriate for any wider consumption by “mass,” it nonetheless warrants a more prominent place in world affairs and international law. Nowhere is this assertion [...]
Six days prior to Hurricane Ian’s eventual landfall, meteorologists sounded the alarm about a potential impact somewhere on Florida’s west coast. The storm was originally forecast to strike Tampa Bay, but ultimately touched down just south near Fort Myers. Despite the unpredictability of its path, rapid legal action by state government agencies under Governor Ron [...]
