Weapons Grade Uranium

We don't get to see this often, but the Oak Ridge labs in Tennessee released this picture of a "log" of weapons-grade material collected from scraps and leftovers.  Doesn't look like much, huh?

Courtesy of Knoxnews

Wierd International Law Situation

We talked about the difference between public (for states) and private (for individual) international law.  So what happens when an individual does something that states aren't allowed to do?

A California businessman chartered a fishing boat in July, loaded it with 100 tons of iron dust and cruised through Pacific waters off western Canada, spewing his cargo into the sea in an ecological experiment that has outraged scientists and government officials.

Oddly enough, he was testing a way to pull carbon from the atmosphere.  The problem is...

Mr. Parker, of Harvard’s Kennedy School, said it appeared that the project had contravened two international agreements on geoengineering, the London Convention on the dumping of wastes at sea and a moratorium declared by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

So can he be punished?  I doubt Canada has written those agreements into its domestic law (but I could be wrong), and if its in international waters, what happens?

The International Criminal Court in Action

A few weeks ago, we discussed the ICC, including the way its founding treaty--in theory--obligates signatory countries to turn suspects over to the ICC.   This is creating an interesting wrinkle in the case of former Libyan dictator Gaddafi's son.  Originally created to punish criminals in places where the original country couldn't do so for political reasons (i.e. Rwanda), it is now being used to protect suspects from the death penalty.

The Libyan authorities have made no secret of the fact that they have absolutely no intention of handing Saif Gaddafi over to the ICC, our correspondent says.

If they do want to play by the rules and win the right to try Saif Gaddafi at home, they must convince the judges they can do the job and that Mr Gaddafi will face a fair hearing at home.... Lawyer Melinda Taylor - who spent nearly a month in detention after she and three other members of the defence team were arrested in Libya after visiting Mr Gaddafi in June - say Libya's lawyers are misleading the ICC, for instance by saying a possible death sentence for Saif Gaddafi could be commuted.

Full Article

 Three thoughts come to mind:

1) We're seeing how non-state actors (the ICC) create new regimes (sets of practices and rules--remember that from the exam?) about capital punishment.

2) We're seeing how Euro-centric the ICC is in its opposition to the death penalty.  It reminds me of the European voices who claimed Saddam Hussein wouldn't get a "fair trial" in post-war Iraq

3) The new Libyan government's refusal to turn Gaddafi over reminds us that sovereignty still trumps international law.

What if they made the movie Terminator in 2012...

From XKCD.

"...on the verge of nuclear war"

North Korea--nuclear armed North Korea--routinely makes bombastic threats against everyone.  By now, few take them seriously, but it's still a reminder of why the North Korean issue is so difficult to resolve.

North Korean Diplomats at the United Nations

In other DPRK news, here is a random insult generator, produced from actual North Korean state news archives. Click the button a few times and see what you get called.  :)

Changes to US activities in Afghanistan

This is the introduction to an article at Foreign Policy.com about changes to US strategy in Afghanistan.  There isn't much to the article, but we'll definitely return to this on 2 October, so read it.

Following a string of insider attacks by Afghan soldiers against their U.S. and NATO counterparts, Gen. John R. Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, issued a new set of limits on direct cooperation with Afghan forces.

More from Wired magazine.

But in reality, the persistence of Afghan troops attacking their American mentors has prompted a major shift in how the U.S. trains Afghans, to the point where it calls into question the cornerstone of the U.S. exit strategy.

Another AQ leader killed, but does it matter?

The #2 Al Qaeda leader in Yemen, killed by a US drone attack. 

Money Politics in the EU

In America, we have the Federal Reserve Bank.  It effectively prints money and determines the interest rate.  In theory, it is supposed to be separate from politics.  In Europe, the situation is more complicated, since there are many different countries in the European Union (which we'll talk about this week).

This post from the Economist describes how the European Central Bank is looking more and more like its American counterpart these days.

The Study of Foreign Policy

Sometimes students ask me how they should prepare if they want to take the Foreign Service exam (to work in a US Embassy abroad).  Back when I wanted to take it, I heard you should read the New York Times cover-to-cover for a year.  Here is another take on the same question from the magazine Foreign Policy.

Top 10 Things a Foreign Policy Wonk Should Study

Supplementary Readings Blog

Welcome to PS 2120 Introduction to International Politics.  This blog will host online readings to supplement our regular text's chapters.    I will usually post a short reading once or twice a week, and they are fair game for both in-class questions and the exams.  In addition, if you have something to say about the topic but are not fond of speaking up in class, please post them in the article's comments.

Most posts will have a short commentary about how the reading links to our class topic, then a link to the article for you to read.

Russia and the USSR at the Olympics

This summer you may have watched the Olympics, and seen the Russian team compete.  It didn't do badly, but it wasn't ever in real competition with the US or China for total medals.   There was a time--before you were born--when it went head to head with the US every time.  That, of course, was back when the Cold War raged on, which we'll talk about on Thursday.

How many medals would the USSR have won?