Contrary to conventional wisdom, both nuclear deterrence and associated forms of nuclear strategy, including preemption, can support the authoritative expectations of international law. The adequacy of international law in preventing a nuclear war in the Middle East will depend upon more than formal treaties, customs and “the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations.” [...]
“For there is nothing on earth more acceptable to that Supreme Deity who rules over this whole world than the councils and assemblages of men bound together by law, which are called States.” Cicero, Somnium Scipionis Recent news from the Middle East, though generally “beneath the surface,” deals with Sunni Arab state reactions to [...]
In the continuously unsettling matter of Otto Warmbier, Donald Trump and Kim Jung Un, a key legal point has been overlooked or obscured: Whether or not the North Korean leader actually knew of Mr. Warmbier’s brutal treatment, torture and death, he remains fully responsible for this crime under pertinent law. This is primarily because of [...]
“What does not benefit the entire hive is no benefit to the bee.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Back at the World War I Armistice Day ceremonies in France in 2018, Emmanuel Macron ventured a well-reasoned condemnation of Donald Trump’s belligerent nationalism. By describing the American president’s rancorous sentiments as a “betrayal of patriotism,” the French president [...]
It’s not just about the 2012 Magnitsky Act. President Donald Trump’s recent affirmation of support for Saudi Arabia–even with incontrovertible evidence of Saudi criminality in the Jamal Khashoggi murder–reflects willful indifference to much wider sources of pertinent law. Both international law and the laws of the United States were flagrantly violated by this official American [...]
“The enemy is the unphilosophical spirit which knows nothing and wants to know nothing of truth.” Karl Jaspers, Reason and Anti-Reason in our Time (1971) Yet again, assessments of national security threats to the United States thoroughly contradict US President Trump’s own off-the-cuff appraisals. This time it is about satellite images confirming that North Korea is rapidly [...]
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land…. Article VI, US Constitution (The Supremacy Clause) As revealed yet again with his proposed abrogation of the [...]
Very conspicuously, Israel’s Palestinian foes regard “martyrdom” as among the highest expressions of religious sacredness. Nonetheless, there are distinctly prominent disjunctions between the pertinent obligations of faith and those of international law. In essence, only the latter set of obligations can have a properly authoritative place in assessing Palestinian resorts to international force. This is [...]
Among several noteworthy and interrelated Helsinki summit policy derelictions – most obviously, Vladimir Putin’s still unpunished aggressions in Crimea – US President Donald Trump chose to ignore America’s binding legal obligations regarding Russian war crimes in Syria. This sorely evident disregard reflects not “merely” willful antipathy to pertinent international law, but also a concurrent indifference [...]
US President Donald Trump traveled to Singapore to negotiate urgent nuclear matters, and not to discuss North Korean violations of basic human rights. Nonetheless, any such willful US indifference to these violations in another country, especially when they are as stark and egregious as they are in North Korea, represents a sorely grievous disregard for [...]
