Archive for the ‘International law and structures’ Category

A Critical Ear: recent interviews

Friday, September 14th, 2007

One of my current side projects is the radio show I present with Bob Naiman on WRFU. A Critical Ear covers a range of US domestic and foreign policy developments. Bob works for Just Foreign Policy and is incredibly well informed on foreign policy, activism, and labor issues, so it's ...

Data retention and vehicle tracking

Monday, January 2nd, 2006

Just before I came home for Christmas I was Paul's guest on MediaGeek on WEFT. We had intended, originally, to talk about the state of community media in Ireland and Europe generally, but ended up spending most of the show talking about the Data Retention compromise that had just passed ...

Why the French referendum failed

Wednesday, June 15th, 2005

This is surreal! Giscard d'Estaing blames the failure of the EU constitution in France on the fact that each household was sent a copy of the full text of the constitution:One crucial mistake was to send out the entire three-part, 448-article document to every French voter, said Mr Giscard. Over the ...

Saddam, Geneva and the UK

Saturday, May 21st, 2005

Given that I understand Saddam to be in the custody of the coalition authorities, which includes the UK, does the UK have a legal duty to prevent the publication of photographs of Saddam? That is, does the requirement that a prisoner not be exposed to ridicule cover not only the ...

EU commissioner in constitution/holocaust controversy

Saturday, May 14th, 2005

There's a strange piece in EU Observer today about a controversial passage in a speech by EU Communication Commissioner Margot Wallström:In the original version, Commissioner Wallström was to say "Yet there are those today who want to scrap the supranational idea. They want the European Union to go back to ...

Dermot Ahern to promote UN reform plan

Monday, April 4th, 2005

So it seems that Dermot Ahern, the Irish minister for Foreign Affairs, has been appointed by Kofi Annan as one of four 'special envoys for UN reform' who will:travel around the world and engage political leaders, civil society representatives, academics and the media. They will present the broad package of ...

ICC to investigate Darfur

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Well, this is good news. It seems that the United States is backing down and allowing a UN Security Council motion calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation in Darfur.

Former Sandinista minister refused US visa – branded as terrorist – can’t accept Harvard visiting professorship

Friday, March 4th, 2005

You can't say the Bushies don't have long memories

The inhumanity of justification

Tuesday, March 1st, 2005

I am so grateful that Clancy pointed to Deborah Stone's powerful juxtaposition of American torture and her mother's experience of lung cancer:On the morning of May 7, the day I was to learn about air hunger, Mom had awakened before me. When I came into the kitchen, my arms out ...

Global perspectives on community radio/media

Friday, February 25th, 2005

Community Radio has, of course, been extending in reach over the last decade or more (as noted in, for instance, UNESCO's World Communications Report) but this article gives an interesting overview of the differences in growth and emphasis in different areas globally. Of particular note is that some parts of ...