Crimes against humanity, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, extrajudicial executions -- all of those human rights norms are defined by actions. They're not defined by whether the perpetrator is a human…
The TNI under Suharto was seen as different from other armies because: Indonesian army sees itself as quite different from other armies in the world, because it was never created…
These feelings which we Cubans have already acquired will have to be shared by someday. Today it hurts us if a Cuban is hungry, if a Cuban has no doctor,…
Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty is both famous and obscure. A twentieth-century political theory, containing two canonical sentences: "Sovereign is he who decides on…
The following is an extract of an interview between Bambang Dharmono, former Aceh military commander and negotiator representing Indonesia for the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), to lead the Presidential Unit…
What is self-determination? The notion of self-determination as a universal principle, whether viewed through a political, moral, or legal lens, has been and continues to be imprecise and in dire…
The current humanitarian crises in West Papua, formally West New Guinea (“WNG”), has at its roots Western colonial greed and paranoia over Soviet influence in the region. WNG was and…
Congratulations Julian Moti QC on your well-deserved win over Australian racism and hypocrisy! "If the criminal justice system is corrupted, or otherwise interfered with, a community is left with few…
A rough translation of Rio Tinto from Spanish into English is Red River. Spain's Rio Tinto is characterized by deep red water that is highly acidic (pH 1.7—2.5) and rich…
I have spent the last few weeks travelling around remote Indigenous communities collecting signatures in support of a Royal Commission into the AFP and statements in support of my application…
My apologies for my tardiness in updating Blak and Black over the last week or so, I’ve been reviewing evidence with a former colleague and equally concerned citizen relating to…
Since writing my article Australia in the Solomons: A case study in 21st Century Gunboat Diplomacy I have had the opportunity to do some more research into AusAID and its…
Update: Subsequent to writing this post the Solomon Start has published an article which confirms much of what Blak and Black has been arguing concerning RAMSI's role in the Solomon…
Recurrent themes in Australian politics since the events of 9/11 and the beginning of the euphemistically though erroneously named ‘war on terror’ have been national security, border protection and exporting…
When we look at a map of the world’s major trouble spots we see or at least I see, a white footprint superimposed over each and every one of these…
The following article appeared in Friday’s Jakarta Post: Maj. Gen. Wisnu Bawatenaya has been appointed to become commander of the Indonesian Army Special Forces (Kopassus) replacing Maj. Gen. Lodewijk F…
The following is a modified version of an article which first appeared in the Fiji Sun on 12 September, 2011 and which Blak and Black has linked to since publishing…
“Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris” (Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.) I have long loved John Donne’s Meditation XVII; it remains pause for…
On 30 November 2010, the International Court of Justice delivered its Judgment in the case of Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v. Democratic Republic of the Congo). The International…