Since January 20, the news from America has been of an extravagant fervor, each morning presenting the avalanche of the previous day’s follies. The staggering spectacle offered day after day by the White House may be thrusting us a little more each day into a dystopia no one could have imagined arriving so quickly, but … Read more
No historian could have watched US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month without recognising a 21st century version of the ritual public execution of a Roman gladiator. Trump gave the world a lesson in realpolitik when he told Zelensky: “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start … Read more
Many years ago, I gave a lecture on collective security and international law at the Karazin University in Kharkiv. Among the many questions from the students, I clearly recall their concerns about what happens when international law fails, and raw power prevails, particularly if a permanent member of the UN Security Council commits an act … Read more
Three years after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the widespread activation of universal and other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction to prosecute international crimes committed in the war calls for an evaluation. What has been achieved so far and what could be done better? Despite the stated commitment of Ukraine’s allies to complement the … Read more
In the 1990s, Lane, as NSF director, ushered in the requirement that, in addition to intellectual merit, reviewers should consider a grant proposal’s “broader impacts.” In general, he said, the aim was to encourage science that would benefit society. The broader impacts requirement remains today. Among other options, researchers can fulfill it by including a … Read more
