This is not a blog I had expected, intended or wanted to write. I have politely declined requests to write on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in relation to the current crisis in Myanmar and the climbing civilian death toll. The
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I took this photograph of the Port Hills, Christchurch on 22 March 2019 – exactly one week after the devastating terrorist attack on the city’s mosques. That morning, I’d joined 20,000 others in a public outpouring of support for the
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When Joseph Biden won the 2020 US election many hoped that there would be a quick return to an old globalist agenda and support for international institutions. However, the US has changed politically, socially, and culturally, which will seriously constrain such a reversal from
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In his address to the Munich security conference (his first international speech as president), President Biden told European leaders the US wants to “earn back our position of trusted leadership.” In a clean break from the isolationist policies of his predecessor, President Biden noted
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On 22nd January, 2021, the TPNW came into force with the requisite fifty nations having ratified the treaty. Since then, several others, including Cambodia and Philippines have joined. The background has been dealt with at some length in my recent
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What might future historians note as the epoch-making aspects of Donald Trump’s exit? Perhaps it will include something that is attracting less academic attention at present – social media companies closing down Trump’s accounts. Twitter and later Snapchat permanently banned Trump. Facebook and YouTube restricted him, and Amazon closed the
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I’ve spent my life studying the risks posed by nuclear weapons. I’ve always worried that one day an unhinged leader would emerge in a nuclear-armed country, with the authority to launch a nuclear attack. To me, the assumption that nuclear-armed
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The US presidential election has now concluded with the Electoral College confirming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the winners (by 306 to 232 votes). It remains for Congress to certify the Electoral College votes on 6 January, before the
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How is the emerging global community to deal with alleged war crimes, within the context of contemporary international law and national political integrity? This is one of the more critical questions of the early 21st century. War crimes are many,
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At first glance the decision to delay the largest climate conference in history – COP 26 (1) – appears to have been made on practical grounds. COVID-19 had made convening 30,000 delegates from 197 countries impossible. For the conference, it is
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