“Hamas retains the right to defend Gaza by the use of the weaponry at its disposal, and is thus not committed to nonviolence, but it does offer the possibility of greater peace and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians if the label of "terrorism" was abandoned and the search for accommodation was commenced in good faith.” IfsDoeUseGreaterPossibilityOffersCommittedTerrorismLabelsStabilityAbandonedNonviolencePalestinianGazaHamasGood FaithAccommodationsWeaponry Author:Richard A. Falk
“It would seem to be the case that pressure on Iran to acquire nuclear weapons is almost totally driven by their need for a deterrent capability to avoid the fate of Iraq, Libya. The use of American military force in Syria thus sends exactly the opposite message as supposedly desired to the leadership in Tehran - and to others. North Korea has been dealt with diplomatically because it has the bomb and might use it if provoked.” IfsNeedsHas BeensUseSeemsMightForceCasesFateMilitaryMessagesWeaponsOppositesPressureIraqDrivenNuclearBombsAcquireIranCapabilityNuclear WeaponsSyriaKoreaNorth KoreaLibyaProvokedMilitary ForceDeterrentTehranAmerican MilitaryMight Use Author:Richard A. Falk
“Both Israel and the United States have mounted attacks on 'lawfare', that is, counter-hegemonic uses of international law to question policies associated with the occupation of Palestine and criminal tactics of warfare.” StatesUseLawUnitedUnited StatesPolicyInternationalIsraelCriminalsOccupationWarfarePalestineTacticsInternational Law Author:Richard A. Falk
“To achieve effectiveness and legitimacy it is time to scrap the right of veto given to permanent members of the UN, or at least severely restrict its use. It is also time to either abandon the idea of permanent membership or broaden it to reflect the rise of non-Western states to the status of global leaders (e.g. Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa), and to downgrade European representation by either giving the European Union a single seat or rotating a European state among Germany, France, UK, and Italy.” GivingIdeasStatesUseGivenLeaderAchieveMembersIndiaUnionsSouthWesternFrancePermanentGermanySeatsAbandonSouth AfricaRepresentationTurkeysIndonesiaEffectivenessEuropean UnionScrapBrazilMembershipLegitimacyVetoRotating Author:Richard A. Falk
“International law in its counter-hegemonic uses is very important in any domain where issues of legitimacy are significant, but is rarely able to have a corresponding behavioural impact.” ImportantUseAbleLawIssuesImpactInternationalSignificantDomainLegitimacyCorrespondingInternational Law Author:Richard A. Falk
“This issue of expanding the reach of international criminal law by reliance on the use of Universal Jurisdiction by domestic courts needs to be balanced against the injustice of according impunity to those with strong geopolitical backing. It is notable that several western European countries backtracked on UJ after threats of retaliatory moves by the United States and Israel. There is no doubt that the domain of UJ is a geopolitical battleground.” NeedsCountryStatesUseMovingLawStrongUnitedUnited StatesIssuesDoubtUniversalCourtThreatWesternInjusticeInternationalIsraelCriminalsNo DoubtBalancedExpandingDomainRelianceNotableImpunityEuropean CountriesJurisdictionCriminal LawBattlegroundGeopolitical Author:Richard A. Falk
“It may be that there is so much ambiguity and ideology attached to the term 'terrorism' that it is best to avoid its use altogether, as it is likely to be twisted in public discourse to demonise the enemies of the established order, while exempting state violence from legal and moral scrutiny.” MayStatesUseOrderTermMoralEnemyViolenceTerrorismIdeologyDiscourseTwistedAmbiguityScrutinyPublic Discourse Author:Richard A. Falk
“It was a step forward to charge Pinochet with terrorism, and to acknowledge that the essence of the crime is the use of political violence to induce great fear in society and against those who are innocent, and not just such violence that is directed against the state by opposition groups.” StatesUsePoliticalStepsViolenceGroupsCrimeEssenceTerrorismInnocentAcknowledgeOppositionSteps ForwardPolitical ViolencePinochet Author:Richard A. Falk
