Louis René Beres
How and why international law and strategy should be merged when engaging Middle Eastern...
ISRAEL, COUNTER-TERRORISM AND INTERNATIONAL LAW: ANALYTIC CHALLENGES OF SYSTEM
“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.”
-- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959)
Whether...
If and when to strike first – A guest essay on Israeli preemption
IF AND WHEN TO STRIKE FIRST
ISRAEL, PREEMPTION AND ANTICIPATORY SELF-DEFENSE
Louis René Beres (Ph.D., Princeton, 1971)
Emeritus Professor of International Law
Purdue University
Abstract: “The safety of the people,” declares Cicero in The Laws, “is the highest law.”...
Legal Order In World Politics: A Hobbesian Dilemma
“Where there is no Common Power, there is no Law….”- Leviathan, Chapter XIII
A Hobbesian World
The seventeenth century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes associated world politics with the “state of nature.” In this anarchic state, war is...
King Charles III’s Coronation at the Convergence of Policy, Sovereignty, and Immortality
It’s an uncommon association, but certain connections have been suggested between sovereignty (the highest form of earthly authority) and offerings of immortality. For the most part, at the level of philosophical investigation, such connections have not...
Excruciating But Indispensable: Calculating Probabilities of an Israel-Iran Nuclear War
Credo quia absurdum, “I believe because it is absurd.”-Tertullian
By definition, an Israel-Iran nuclear exchange is presently impossible. Though Iran is vigorously pursuing a military nuclear capability, it still has a substantial way to go before it can...
Figuring the Odds of an Israel-Iran Nuclear War: A Complex Task for Logic, Mathematics...
“For by Wise Counsel, Thou Shalt Make Thy War.”
Proverbs, 24,6
As a matter of logic, an Israel-Iran nuclear exchange is presently out of the question. Though energetically pursuing a military nuclear capability, the Shiite Republic...
Concepts of Time in Israel’s Defense Policy
“Clocks slay time.”-William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Some facts speak for themselves. For Israel, no arena of national decision-making is conceivably more important than defense and security. Nonetheless, this primary arena is still dominated...
Resisting “Mass”: Intellect, Courage and Human Survival
Perpetually self-destructive, humankind continues to embrace war, genocide, and terrorism almost routinely. Plausibly, this lethal embrace is today even more worrisome than in the past. What are the pertinent particulars?
To begin, the lead engines...
Honoring Nuremberg: The Legal Obligation to Prosecute Vladimir Putin Under ICC Jurisdiction
Nullum crimen sine poena, “No crime without a punishment”
The ICC Warrant Against Vladimir Putin
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for committing egregious war crimes in Ukraine. With this...
Seeking Interior Views: Understanding Russian Crimes Against Humanity “from withín”
“So says science, and I believe in science. But up to now, has science ever troubled to look at the world other than from without?”
– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man
Prima facie,...