African successes and the role of aid
Fascinating and encouraging article about the economic progress and successes registered by Tanzania and a raft of other African countries in recent years.
Category: International Affairs
Ratifying the dead treaty: flogging a dead donkey?
The issue emerging here now is whether it would be legitimate for EU governments to ‘cherry-pick’ bits out of the constitution treaty that are plainly necessary to enable the hugely expanded EU to go on functioning, and that could theoretically be brought into effect without the need to amend the existing treaties.
Humanitarian intervention and its dangers: a hypothetical
Is there a situation where it would be morally or legally right to use force to prevent genocide in another country without the approval of the Security Council? (No.)
The ‘humanitarian intervention’ heresy and its perils
A Guardian letter about the danger of by-passing the Security Council
Jottings
…about the Guantanamo motto and Mme. Roland, an enjoyable film and a sharp TV programme, some horrible grammar, and the database that goes with ID cards
Iraq and Mr Blair: "If treason prosper…"? – a dialogue
My old friend Peter Harvey has posted the following thought-provoking comment on the two-part entry below about Iraq and the question of the legality of the war in the light of the Attorney-General’s advice. My own reply to Peter follows.
Part I: Was the Iraq war legal? Reflections on the Attorney-General’s advice to the prime minister
The main importance of the 13-page ‘advice’ of the Attorney-General on the legality (or lack of it) of going to war against Iraq without a second UN resolution authorising it, given to the prime minister on 7 March 2003, lies in the harsh and unforgiving light it sheds on the same Attorney-General’s ‘opinion’, published 10 days later
Part II: Was the Iraq war legal? Reflections on the Attorney-General’s advice to the prime minister
In Part I of this piece, I have suggested that the suppression of the warnings and qualifications in the Attorney-General’s advice of 7 March ’03 in effect misrepresented his unqualified opinion published 10 days...