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Showing posts with the label International law

The Strategist, the Lawyer and the South China Sea ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Kerry Lynn Nankivell)

South China sea ( Image credits- VOA) Source- The Diplomat Author- Kerry Lynn Nankivell Readers of The Diplomat were recently afforded an exchange by two leading experts in South China Sea disputes. Dr. Sam Bateman, a retired commodore of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), wrote of the strategic problems associated with U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operations (FON OPS) in the South China Sea. Bateman warns of the United States “militarizing” a sensitive circumstance and “turning back the clock” on international law. Responding to these claims, Commander Jonathan Odom, judge advocate general (JAG), former oceans policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and current military professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, defended the FON OPS program by noting the legal errors underpinning Bateman’s argument. At face value, each author’s analysis is useful but incomplete. Accepting Bateman’s approach means believing that FON OPS a

New South China Sea Lighthouses: Legal Futility and Strategic Risk ( Source- The Diplomat / Authors- Jonathan G. Odom and Kerry Lynn Nankivell)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Alvesgaspar Source- The Diplomat Authors- Jonathan G. Odom and Kerry Lynn Nankivell International law can be viewed as either a tool or a weapon, depending on how it is wielded. On the one hand, the rules of international law outlining the range of legitimate territorial and maritime claims can provide an invaluable toolbox of objective standards for sorting out a way forward in what can often be a complex problem of international relations. On the other, a misinterpretation or partial understanding of the applicable international law can obfuscate the intentions of the rival claimants and further complicate the overall situation. In some ways, a partial understanding of the applicable law might be more harmful than no knowledge at all. For the unresolved disputes in the South China Sea, one issue worth considering is the potential significance of the new lighthouses that China has constructed on several geographic features within t