Fifteen years ago in The Hague, the International Court of Justice – the highest legal authority in the world – handed down one of its most contentious advisory opinions. To the chagrin of the nuclear powers, it declared that all governments are legally obliged to disarm, and to do so without unreasonable delay. “The destructive [...]
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NAJ TAYLOR’S 5 MUST READS
Remember, Tehran’s “nuclear ambiguity” was learnt from Israel
Consider this: you are a willing outcast, with few solid friends and many formidable enemies. How do you survive? By trying to convert enemies to friends, or by instilling fear in your many enemies? More than any other state on earth, Iran is presently keeping her enemies on their toes – expertly. Iran categorically and [...]
READ MOREFrom Soviet scraps to backpack drones: the weapons of Libya’s rebels
In the early months, rebel forces fought Colonel Gaddafi’s men using weapons and weapons systems cobbled together using scraps from the Soviet era. As time got on — and thanks to the NATO intervention — rebel weapons became a lot more hi-tech
READ MOREWho sold Gaddafi his guns? Mostly Europe.
Arms sales to Libya in the 5 years proceeding the conflict came mostly came from European nations, including Italy ($432m), Serbia ($67m), and the UK ($57m).
READ MOREWarfare without limits: a darkening human horizon
There are several pressures that push war in the direction of the absolute, and imperil the human future. Perhaps, the foremost of these is emergence, use, retention, and proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as the development of biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki there have been several close calls involving heightened [...]
READ MOREDrone attacks: American citizens and foreign civilians
The execution of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-Yemeni imam, by a drone attack in Yemen on September 30, 2011 has generated a lively debate among liberally minded lawyers in the United States because al-Awlaki was an American citizen. The implication in some of the discourse is that emphasising the American citizenship of the victim is more likely to induce an American court [...]
READ MOREA modest proposal: Is it time for the community of non-nuclear states to revolt?
There are 189 countries that are parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) that entered into force in 1970. Only India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea have remained outside the treaty regime so as to be free to acquire the weapons. The nuclear weapons states have done an incredibly successful job, especially the United States, in getting a free ride, [...]
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