By: Ken Black The digital revolution is here.[1] But what does that mean? It means The Washington Post, an historic United States news-reporting institution founded in 1877 with 640 journalists and famous for breaking stories like the Watergate scandal, can sell for $65 million less than a six-year-old Huffington Post with only a handful of journalists and nowhere near the…
Regulating Cyberspace: State Sovereignty and International Law
By: Tammey Burroughs When most people think of conflict, they tend to think of it in physical, and sometimes even psychological, terms. However, technological phenomena like the Internet have allowed for the development of a whole new domain on which conflict can take place: cyberspace. Fifty years ago, few could have predicted the huge impact that cyber platforms like the…
Will an “Obligation to Negotiate” Get Bolivia it’s Coastline Back After 135 Years?
By: James Borden Bolivia lost control of its coastal territory to Chile in the War of the Pacific nearly 135 years ago. The country has been officially landlocked since 1904, when it signed a treaty ceding the disputed territory to Chile. However, in the eyes of Bolivia, Chile is not…
Myanmar
By: Gordon Cobb At a press conference on March 14, 2018, the Myanmar government denied recent UN claims that the country committed serious human rights violations and crimes under international law.[1] The UN, who Myanmar has denied access since last year, can only accumulate evidence from interviews in Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees now live.[2] Despite their…
The State of the Chemical Weapons Convention in the Wake of the Ex-Russian Spy Poisoning in Great Britain
By: Ariella Zulman Introduction On March 4, 2018, Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found, unconscious, on a bench in Salisbury, England.[1] The story made international headlines when, shortly after the incident occurred, British authorities revealed that they were treating the event as “a major incident involving attempted murder, by administration of…
ILJ 3
By: Hannah Manning Since 2011, Syria has been in a state of constant armed conflict.[i] In March of 2011, Syrian pro-democracy protests turned violent.[ii] A politically complex and bloody civil war followed.[iii] The Syrian government’s use of force against the protestors did not at all dissuade rebels, and rebel brigades were formed to dispel government forces from their homes and…
What is AUMF and how does it Intersect with 2017 US Strikes in Syria?
By: Molly Rubin Beginning in the Second World War, the United States has enacted Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) laws to pursue certain large-scale military objectives. An AUMF is used as an alternative to a formal Congressional declaration of war.[1] Whereas a Congressional declaration authorizes the president to use his powers broadly and in a variety of…
Last Gasps of Rebellion: Assad Snuffs Out Another Resistance Stronghold
By: Michael Hutcherson Introduction Syrian government forces are wrapping up their latest assault on rebel forces in the on-going civil war.[1] In this latest offensive the Syrian Army has endeavored to push rebels out of Ghouta, a region on the outskirts of Damascus.[2] However, rebels are not the only people left in the area.[3] When the fighting began as many…
Turbulence Over North America: A Final Decision is Made in the Boeing vs. Bombardier Dispute
By: Daniel Maher A dispute that began on April 27, 2017 between Boeing and Bombardier over the C-Series came to a close in February 2018 as the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) decided in Bombardier’s favor and declined to impose a 300% tariff on imports of the C-Series aircraft into the United States.[1] It was the end to an…
Why where the “cloud” is matters
By: Phil Pullen Imagine for a moment that you kept a hidden file that contained a record of all of your most private information. This information could be outwardly intimate—like private e-mails you’ve sent to your spouse—or it could be merely a collection of extraneous personal information—like what music you’ve recently gotten into, or where you’re thinking of taking your…