The Russian-Ukrainian crisis started to deteriorate in early 2021 when Ukraine arrested pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk on allegations of conspiring a coup d’etat, and Russia initiated military exercises near the Ukrainian border. Russia is the second-largest oil producer, trailing only the United States, and the third-leading oil exporter, behind Saudi Arabia and the United Arab [...]
“Deterrence is not just a matter of military capabilities. It has a great deal to do with perceptions of credibility.” – Herman Kahn, Thinking About the Unthinkable in the 1980s (1984) Abstract: Theoretic assessments of Israel’s nuclear strategy – especially ones concerning a prospective shift from “deliberate nuclear ambiguity” to “selective nuclear disclosure” – generally [...]
This year, we are marking women’s day globally in the midst of new and intensifying conflicts from Ukraine to Syria; conflicts that exacerbate pre-existing patterns of discrimination against women and girls, exposing them to heightened risks of violations of their human rights. While contemporary wars affect civilians of all genders—as stated in UN Security Council [...]
Abstract: Earlier, as part of Russia’s escalating aggression against Ukraine – an aggression that now includes armed attack on a nuclear power plant – President Vladimir Putin placed his nuclear forces on high alert. Correspondingly, the United States should now recalibrate how best to “play” the increasingly complex “games” of military nuclear strategy. Most worrisome, [...]
The international community and the United States spent billions of dollars on rebuilding the Afghan legal and judicial system and improving the rule of law and governance over the past two decades. However, after the Taliban takeover, any such progress and achievements quickly disappeared and the foundations for the Afghan legal system that had been [...]
These past few days Vladimir Putin’s invasion forces have attacked the largest nuclear power plant in Europe located at Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. This unnecessary attack put not only the citizens of Ukraine in grave danger, but also all of Europe. The attack caused a fire which has been extinguished, yet the Russian attack on the plant [...]
Ohio’s Supreme Court has now twice ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission to produce constitutionally compliant maps. Twice the Redistricting Commission, or at least the Republican majority that controls the Commission, has failed. More accurately, it has once failed and once refused. Following the Ohio Supreme Court’s second order, the Commission on February 18, 2022 returned [...]
The basic international law One of the most fundamental rules of international law is that States are prohibited from using force to resolve their international disputes. Any State that uses force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another State violates this solemn rule of international law. Applying this rule, the use of force [...]
The United Nations was founded in 1945 on the premise that the use of force was to be used only as a last resort. Yet, several decades later a tyrant once again is using force to resolve a “dispute”. In 1945, the world had just finished a war where Europe had been devastated. Stung by [...]
We all recall the famous photo in 1938 of the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepping off his plane holding up an agreement with Adolf Hitler that averted a possible conflict with Germany. He gave away the Sudetenland and the political independence of Czechoslovakia to do so. Chamberlain proudly declared “peace in our time.” [...]
