As in previous wars, the current conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza highlight a recurring vulnerability of the just war tradition when its ideas and language are deployed as political tools in the international arena. That is, regardless of the circumstances of any particular conflict, every warring party claims to fight for justice. Moreover, such claims are frequently used to justify military actions that can appear manifestly unjust.    [...] they were convinced of their own moral superiority. As a result, they developed terrifyingly permissive ius ad bellum (right to wage w ..read more

There has been a glut of editorials, blog posts, social media posts, open letters, and other commentary in which it is declared that the Israeli government has a special duty to protect its citizens. Such a duty, it is supposed, allows the Israeli government to weigh the lives of Israelis more heavily than the lives of Palestinians. This conceit, in turn, helps rationalize the bombing campaign in Gaza. What this view fails to recognize is that the Israeli government also has a special duty to protect Palestinians, which competes with the special duty it has to protect Israelis. Before explain ..read more

You probably see them every day and you might make use of their labor quite often too. Gig workers, wearing brightly colored uniforms, have quickly become part of the streetscape in cities around the world. The services they provide, such as delivery of food and other goods, private transport, and various household tasks, are cheap, convenient, and easily accessible through digital platforms. Yet for many customers, the sight of gig workers appears to evoke a sense of unease. Indeed, one of the reasons why delivery platforms offer “contactless delivery” is likely that customers wish to receiv ..read more

After decades where labour unions were on the defensive, recent years have witnessed a surge in union activity. Inflation and tight labour markets have sparked strike action across several sectors in the UK and Europe. And in the USA, unions have made historical inroads into service sector jobs, such as Starbucks and hospitality, and stood up to new tech conglomerates like Amazon and Netflix. Grassroots revolts installed more confrontational leadership in historic, large-scale unions like the Teamsters and the United Autoworkers Union. The Teamsters used the threat of a strike to negotiate a ..read more

July 1 marks the celebration of Ketikoti. 160 years ago, in 1863, slavery was officially abolished in Suriname. It became fully effective only a decade later. This year, Ketikoti—the name of this day means, roughly, “chains have been broken"—started a full year of remembrance in the Netherlands, former coloniser and close ally of Suriname. Although it is only one chapter in the horrific tales of colonialism, something is beginning to happen when it comes to this chapter: the Dutch state seems to be taking responsibility. Last year, Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologised for the country’s slaver ..read more

The European Union is leading the global race to regulate artificial intelligence research and development. In June 2023, the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the Artificial Intelligence Act, which establishes a framework to classify the risk level of AI applications, imposing more stringent requirements on riskier systems. One of the notable features of the Act is that it outright bans some AI-driven technology, including most applications of facial recognition software, social credit scoring systems like those used in China, AI systems that could harmfully manipulate the behavior ..read more

On 4 May 2023, H.E. Mr Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, visited the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he was received by ICC President Judge Piotr Hofmański and ICC Registrar Mr Osvaldo Zavala Giler. ,© ICC-CPI On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two individuals, the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, his Commissioner for Children’s Rights. The alleged crimes are the transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation under Article 8 of t ..read more

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and now the systemically important Credit Suisse have all failed within less than two weeks in March 2023. Two points are particularly important to mention at the outset: First, while Credit Suisse faced problems that were vastly different from the problems at SVB and Signature Bank, each bank’s failure was due to horrific mismanagement. Second, the world of finance moves at breakneck speed, and regulators’ responses had to match this speed. All three banks unraveled within a matter of days. Within 48 to 72 hours, regulators officially announced thei ..read more

EP Plenary session - Suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions. Photo by Philippe Buissin, © European Union 2022 - Source: ,EP. Reference no.: EP-141745M. The shockwave of the “Qatargate” scandal in December 2022 has awaken the European Parliament (EP) and the entire European Union (EU) to the perils of political corruption. The (now deposed) EP Vice President, Eva Kaili, a number of MEPs and parliamentary staffare accused of accepting bribes and representing in return the interests of Qatar and Morocco in the con ..read more

This post will discuss the role that social media are playing in the conflict in Ukraine. We will not start, however, with what is happening today in the streets of Kyiv, but with what happened 10 years ago in the Middle East, during the so-called Arab Spring. That was the first time that people around the world were able to access, in real time, high-quality pictures and videos of war events taken from mobile phones. Previously, media depictions of such events were primarily provided by governments and traditional outlets in highly edited form. Occasionally, smuggled pictures or videos might ..read more