Preventive war international law is unambiguous: launching a war over a hypothetical future threat is illegal. The Nuremberg Tribunal called it the "supreme international crime." Eight decades later, the law remains clear, the violations keep coming, and enforcement stays stuck behind a veto.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisInternational law has courts, conventions, and 80 years of precedent. What it lacks is anyone with the authority and willingness to enforce it. From vetoed UN resolutions to unenforced arrest warrants, the gap between law on paper and law in practice has never been wider.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisRussia tried to join NATO twice, in 1954 and again around 2000, and was rejected both times. Declassified documents and firsthand accounts reveal how those rejections helped set the stage for the war in Ukraine.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisOn January 3, 2026, the United States launched Operation Absolute Resolve, seizing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro without a declaration of war, Security Council authorization, or congressional approval. Three months later, international law scholars are still picking up the pieces.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisThe U.S. removed Venezuela's dictator but left his party in power, creating a governance vacuum where 303 billion barrels of oil, $170 billion in debt, and 30 million people hang in the balance between authoritarian adaptation and democratic transition.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisCentral banks created trillions during the pandemic by pressing keys on a computer. Understanding the quantitative easing mechanics behind that process reveals why unwinding it is proving far harder than starting it.
Explainers Geopolitics & ConflictThe UN General Assembly voted 123-3 to declare the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity and called for reparations. The United States, Israel, and Argentina voted no. The reasons why expose a fundamental tension in international human rights law.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisThe U.S. and Israel struck Iran's nuclear facilities but left 400 kilograms of enriched uranium buried underground and beyond reach. With the IAEA locked out and diplomacy collapsed, Tehran's stockpile is the crisis no bomb could solve.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisIran spent decades surrounded by US bases. Now those bases are launching a war against it. Russia saw the same pattern and invaded Ukraine to prevent it. The parallel is uncomfortable, but the Iran war makes it impossible to dismiss.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisOn February 28, a US Tomahawk missile struck a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing 168 people, most of them children. Amnesty International's investigation points to outdated intelligence, a failure to verify the target, and a potential war crime.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisNearly 99% of international internet traffic flows through submarine cables thinner than a garden hose, stretched across 1.7 million kilometers of ocean floor. Recent sabotage incidents reveal just how fragile the physical internet really is.
Explainers Geopolitics & ConflictA Super Micro co-founder allegedly funneled $2.5 billion in Nvidia's most restricted AI chips to China through a Southeast Asian shell company, using dummy servers and bribed auditors to dodge export controls. The indictment reveals how porous Washington's chip blockade really is.
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