When debating a matter of international law with people (say, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict) they will often say “Well, international law is illegitamate / doesn’t matter / no one follows it / US law supersedes it / etc. so your appeals
On militarism
During the US wars in Indochina, a tumult of protest and activism at Stanford brought many momentous changes to the university. Among these was the banishment of the ROTC from campus. But recently, the suggestion has been made in the
Self-determination and Afghanistan
Self-determination is a central principle of international law. In the case of Afghan self-determination it’s probably also useful to point out that there is a sizeable Afghan peace movement, very courageous and principled, which the antiwar movement in the US
Torture and hypocrisy
Accepting the “after 9/11 was extraordinary” argument for torture would then justify torture in any more dire situation — such as invasion by a foreign army or outright war. It would therefore justify torture (say) of US soldiers in Afghanistan
The end of the Golden Shield
The NY Times reports on newly leaked emails from within the Department of Justice. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/us/politics/07lawyers.html?_r=1&hp Discussed further by Glenn Greenwald. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/07/torture_memos/index.html These leaks further support and strengthen various arguments already made by those calling for accountability, including ourselves — and
Rice's nonsense on torture
Oh wow, I only got around to watching this video now, and from some of the comments I thought she must have been making some half-convincing arguments… nope! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijEED_iviTA&feature=channel_page Well, first we upgrade al Qaeda to tyrants, okay. Then one
Remarks at dinner
These are my prepared remarks, what I said was some approximation to these. Hi, I’m Dan. I’m a grad student here in the mathematics department. Thanks for coming. We are here today because we’re concerned. We’re here today to make
This is your pizza. Go eat it.
I think this is amazingly good — at least to my own aesthetics. Just the right mix of seriousness and hilariousness, gravity and spirit, light and heavy, yin and yang. http://www.stanford.edu/group/antiwar/cgi-bin/mediawiki/images/d/da/NoMoreTorture.png This is your pizza. Go eat it. Are you
Recent poll agrees with international law
Poll: Most want inquiry into anti-terror tacticshttp://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-11-investigation-poll_N.htm If we limit ourselves to the specific alleged crime (against Condoleezza Rice and others) of *torture* — and put aside for now the much worse crime of aggressive war as against Iraq —