Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on Monday accused the US of orchestrating a covert campaign to interfere with the upcoming Russian presidential election, set to take place on Mar. 15-17. The spy agency claims the administration of US President Joe Biden has ordered a group of American NGOs to stifle voter turnout in a bid [...]
Search Results for: 2000-05-12
Catholic cardinal in Quebec steps down following sexual assault class action suit
The Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec on Friday announced that their cardinal, Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, would be stepping down “temporarily…until the situation is clarified” after being named as an alleged perpetrator in the recently approved class action suit, Gaétan Bégin and Pierre Bolduc v. The Roman Catholic Archiepiscopal Corporation of Quebec and The Roman Catholic Archbishop of [...]
Explainer: The Israel-Hamas War and the International Criminal Court
The current conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine raises significant issues of international law and policy. This is part one in an anticipated two-part series that will discuss some of the relevant legal questions before the International Criminal Court (ICC; Part I) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ; Part II). With both courts located in [...]
Love, Suffering, Pity, and Death: The Tragic Sense of World Politics
“The most tragic thing in the world and in life, readers and brothers of mine, is love. Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion; love is consolation in desolation; it is the sole medicine against death, for love is death’s brother.” Miguel de Unamuno, Tragic Sense of Life Looking Beneath: World [...]
Israeli prosecutors resumed the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Israeli Minister of Justice Yaris Levin lifted the country’s state of emergency on December 1. The trial had been on hold since September 20, when the courts adjourned for Rosh Hashanah. The trial was then again postponed due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas [...]
Israel, Counter-Terrorism, and International Law: The Analytic Challenges of 'System'
“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959) Whether conspicuous or obscure, terrorism generally presents itself as a systemic challenge. This means, inter alia, that seemingly singular strategic and legal matters may actually be many-sided and interrelated. Regarding legal issues, though [...]
After Afghanistan: Taliban Power, Palestinian Terrorism and Islamist Sacrifice
“History is an illustrious war against death.” – José Ortega y Gasset, Man and Crisis (1958) Afghanistan and “Palestine”: Newly Emerging Linkages At first glance, there are no obvious connections between the Taliban victory over the United States in Afghanistan and Palestinian terrorism against Israel. Upon closer inspection, however, the recent Taliban triumph reflects more [...]
Law and Strategy after Afghanistan: The United States, Israel and Iran
Abstract: Following US withdrawal from Afghanistan, America’s security focus will turn more expressly to Iran. The core problem with America’s Afghanistan withdrawal was not one of timing or tactics, but of original misconception. In essence, the “Afghanistan Problem” stemmed from an initially underestimated and misunderstood military operation. Looking ahead, Afghanistan’s incoherent conclusion means, inter alia, [...]
SpaceX, OneWeb and the ‘Mega’ Effect of Mega-Constellations on International Space Law
On 15 May 2021, SpaceX launched 52 satellites as part of its Starlink mega-constellation, less than a week after it had launched the previous batch with 60 satellites. When fully deployed in the Low Earth Orbit (“LEO”), this constellation would form a network of thousands of satellites providing affordable access to high-speed internet. Starlink faces [...]
Here is How America's Subtle Alterations to Democracy and Social Justice Avoid Political Monopolies
To a U.S. immigrant who grew up (1972-1992) under a de facto dictatorship where election fraud and accepted discrimination were a societal norm, the concepts of fair and transparent elections, “All men are created equal,” and “equal opportunity …” were unfamiliar. They became a substitute of justice for the customary sense of helplessness. I felt [...]