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29 Oct There is a There, There: The Political Geography of Cyberspace

Patrick S. O'Donnell The search for cheaper markets: in land, labor, what have you, is not surprising and will be a mixed blessing for those countries where they're located. Of course "who owns what" will, once more, be telling.... Several titles in my latest bibliography. "mass media: politics, political economy and law," deal with some of the subject matter broached and implicated in this post. Please see: http://ratiojuris.blogspot.com/2010/10/mass-media-politics-political-economy.html Nathan Dunford I know that China has been heavily involved in Africa through aid and building infrastructure. They have made huge efforts...

16 Jun Weekly News Wrap: Monday, June 16, 2014

...term on Sunday with an election victory that allows him to continue peace talks with Marxist guerrillas to end a half-century war. President Barack Obama has said that the United States will not be sending its troops back to Iraq, but is reviewing other options to assist the Iraqi government threatened by an advancing armed group. UN/Other Nuclear-armed states are modernizing their arsenals and appear determined to keep sizable numbers of such weapons of mass destruction for the foreseeable future, the SIPRI think-tank said in its annual report on Monday....

29 Jul Military Commissions Moving Ahead

...the scope of Article III review on appeal of any commission trial. The major points of contention at yesterday’s hearing focused on the proposed protocol put forward by the Administration’s Detention Policy Task Force for determining whether criminal prosecution of Guantanamo detainees should proceed in an Article III court or in military commission. The Administration’s protocol says there will be a “presumption” that cases will be brought in Article III courts “where feasible.” It also identifies a set of factors that will govern its choice between two available forums, including...

15 Jun The “Enemy Combatant” Book Tour

...called the IRA bombings "Catholic" terrorism because we knew enough to realise that this was not essentially a religious campaign. Indeed, like the Irish republican movement, many fundamentalist movements worldwide are simply new forms of nationalism in a highly unorthodox religious guise. This is obviously the case with Zionist fundamentalism in Israel and the fervently patriotic Christian right in the US. In the Muslim world, too, where the European nationalist ideology has always seemed an alien import, fundamentalisms are often more about a search for social identity and national self-definition...

10 Sep A World War Violation of the Geneva Convention

...German seamen thought they were dead for a substantial period, and, I believe in at least one case, the wife of one of the sailors remarried. Such grief and disorientation of lives might be thought of even greater consequence than the humiliation of a few unapproved interrogation techniques. Would the decision be different because of a difference in the level of threat we now face? Who makes that determination? Should we condemn Fleet Admiral Ernest King (who made this decision) as a war criminal or honor him as a patriot?...

12 Sep Varieties of International Law Skepticism

...by which the content of customary international law is determined is nondemocratic, and provides little reason to believe that customary international law will maximize welfare, at least in comparison to judgments by the democratic branches of the political branches of the United States. This is obviously true when international law concerns matters with insubstantial spillover effects among nations, like the death penalty. Even when there are spillovers, the United States seems to have better incentives to provide international public goods for the world than the process which creates international law....

13 Sep Enthusiasm for the Right of Migration

...missery wages. Thus, people leave in search of a better life. Once they get here and to europe, they still get all the crumbs. It is no surprise then to hear that Mexicans and Central americans are a source of cheap labor. Now you are proposing to allow a certain number of migrants in exchange for access to our financial and service sector (not that Merril Lynch is abscent of these markets). How about those foreign companies there, pay the same wages that what they pay here (bye bye cheap...

07 Dec Would Syria’s Use of Chemical Weapons Change the Legality of U.S. Intervention?

...step that I think is essential. Best, Ben Ian Henderson A quick Google search indicates that a lower estimate for deaths so far in Syria is 40,000. Strange that the issue seems to be the choice of munitions. Benjamin Davis If the number dead by a leader to stay in power were the right basis for seeking accountability by a leader then the 100 000 dead in Iraq on false pretenses would be a ground for accountability for George Bush. Best, Ben Ryan My disclaimer: I am not a law...