A little reminder about why national security concerns do not provide a carte blanche to disregard human rights obligations womensagenda.com.au/latest/why-a...

Mike Waltz brags that thanks to the Trump administration, the UN is cutting "25 percent of their peacekeepers"

And 30 members of Congress would like to know about them.

Text of the draft UNGA resolution on "Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change" includes specific language on non-refoulement. The resolution is due to be voted on 20 May. www.pisfcc.org/news/final-t...

Internationale #Normen, wie etwa das Folter- oder #Gewaltverbot, werden regelmäßig angefochten. Johanna Speyer @prif.org hat für uns zum Phänomen die Sammelbände „Contestation in Prism“ @springernature.com & „Contesting the World“ @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org nebeneinander gelesen und besprochen.

Blistering column by Zoe Daniel in the @GuardianAus today about Liberals & One Nation’s policies: “(Angus)Taylor has voted with One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce 99.8% of the time and the Liberals vote with Pauline Hanson as much as 90% of the time in the Senate.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

FWIW, the answer to this question is “no”

OMG Kash Patel appears to be a drunken national security threat "Meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights." "A request for 'breaching equipment' ... was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors."

Exactly one year ago today:

BREAKING: An ICE charter landed in the Democratic Republic of Congo minutes ago following third-country deportation deal with the Trump administration. gillianbrockell.com/breaking-ice...

Despite the administration’s rhetoric and bogus legal theories, the supposed armed conflict with “narco-terrorists” appears to be entirely make believe. Murder is the general term for premeditated killing outside of armed conflict.

'For the families who lived through these events, nothing can bring back what they lost. But being recognised, being heard and having their stories taken seriously still matters. Because in the end, justice is not only about punishment. It is also about acknowledgement.'

Splashdown!

If SCOTUS takes this, and they rules as I think it will in Noem v. AOL, it will completely upend the 1980 Refugee Act and IIRIRA and make both basically laws that say refugees are to be turned away and turn the US into an immigrant gulag

Feb 3 2025: "Despite plans for restructuring, Rubio said the United States would remain the 'most generous nation on Earth.' " 2025 ODA statistics: Germany has overtaken US as largest donor. Sad.

NEW: Russian and Ukrainian reporting appears to confirm battlefield reporting that Ukrainian forces have achieved a drone advantage over Russian forces on the battlefield. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 9, 2026: isw.pub/UkrWar040926 (1/8)

BREAKING: in March 2026, *every single one* of the 1,341 refugees admitted in the United States were white South Africans: In FY 2026, the U.S. has admitted a total of 4,496 white South Africans, three Afghans (back in November), and nobody else. www.rpc.state.gov/documents/Re...

UNOHCHR confirms Russia in occupied territory in Ukraine has created displacement through widespread and systematic discriminatory measures enforced through threats, detention, torture and ill-treatment. www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

This is not good, per @guardian. Did he refuse an illegal order? www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Yet another case of automated austerity. When the humans in the loop are actually just treated as vestigial organs waiting to be removed. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

NEW: More than 11,000. That’s how many US citizen children have a parent who has been detained under Trump, our new data analysis shows. When Doris Flores was separated from her four-month-old who was still breastfeeding, she turned to her pastor for help. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

This is a very interesting, comprehensive explainer of where things stand in Hungary and how/why this specific election may bring Orban down, whether he would step down if he loses, and whether he's capable of completely paralyzing a Magyar govt.

At one point will insurers stop insuring flights going into the US, when the US asks for billions for wars, but funds only one flight controller at La Guardian: www.jalopnik.com/2129924/lagu...?

Wonderful news!!!!!!!!! 👏👏👏

Just evil behavior from the US www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/a...

This is the alternative to USAID style programs of course

She won the Oscar not just because SINNERS is a stunning visual achievement: it's also a remarkable technical feat. For the first time, the IMAX and Ultra Panavision 70 camera systems were used on the same movie. The end result is jaw-dropping and immersive. Congrats Autumn Durald. #oscars

From all the IR theories that may explain bits and pieces of the puzzle of how we got to this stupid war, there is one that I think explains Trump's decision-making best: Keren Yarhi-Milo's book, Who Fights For Reputation? www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

I guess it’s woke to study the history of the Iran Iraq war or, like, every serious analysis of what bombing Iran would look like published in the last twenty years.

We won’t accept racism as “part of the job” in parliament. We’re calling on Labor to stop looking the other way, stop normalising this behaviour, and fix the rules that allow racism to persist in parliament.

US responsible for deadly missile strike on Iran school, preliminary inquiry says. It appears the "US Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike using obsolete data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency" www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Finally, these are editor copies of The Oxford Handbook of Norms Research in International Relations found their way to my Hamburg office! Here is a big 🙏🏻 again to my steadfast co-editors @sassangholiagha.bsky.social & @philorchard.bsky.social & to all brilliant Section Editors & Contributors! 🙌🏻🙏🏻

Trump starting a war against Iran is perhaps the most unpopular major use of military force in recent memory, as measured by polls taken just after each attack. Eg, support *among Republicans* is lower than overall approval was for invading Iraq www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-trum...

Using the phrase “legitimate concerns” non-ironically to justify appalling cruelty. She has to go asap.

Please read this article to the end. Even before ICE got involved, this started because this *blind man who speaks no English and uses a curtain rod as a walking stick* got lost on a walk and some Karen called the police on him and they tasered and beat him bc he didn’t drop the rod. WTF

There's more: Is Trump dangerous? 43% of Republicans have no opinion. Honest? 44% have no opinion. Corrupt? 43% have no opinion. Out-of-touch? 49% have no opinion. They know who he is. They just don't want to admit it.

For months I've banged the drum that "not sure" has become the safe harbor answer for "Republicans who know Trump's probably wrong, but don't want to admit it." Today's Economist/YouGov Poll: Is Donald Trump racist? 41% of Republicans have No Opinion. d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/ec...

The US is seeking to pressure Vanuatu to withdraw its draft UNGA resolution which will recognise the ICJ ruling that countries have a legal obligation to act on climate change: www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/...

ICE is currently holding around 80,000 detainees. Nazi Germany didn't reach this number in its formal camp system until 1942, nine years after seizing power and three years into the war.

The U.S. killed two more civilians in a boat strike today. A survivor will likely die at sea.

Filed under things children will read in the future when they learn about mass human rights violations committed during this period in US history

Kelly Vargas writes about what happened to her, her husband, and their 6yo daughter in the family camp in Texas. Filth, illness, medical abuse—her child has lasting complications from being injured by a staff member. We don't know the half of what's happening in the camps, but we know enough.

Federal Agents Left Behind “Death Cards” After Capturing Immigrants ICE agents dropped customized ace of spades playing cards, recalling a macabre practice by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. theintercept.com/2026/02/03/i...

Two HRW employees that make up the entirety of the organization's Israel and Palestine program are stepping down after the leadership blocked a report that deems Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees the right of return a "crime against humanity." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

A correction for the ages (from The Guardian's review of 'Melania'):

I have confirmed the gist of this report out of federal court in Minnesota today from a source familiar. If you have more information about the District of Minnesota—either the court or the U.S. Attorney's Office—and how they are handling all of this, please reach out. I am at crg.32 on Signal.

My take on the interest rate rise. The RBA wants unemployment to rise to prevent high wages growth at a time when wages are growing slower than inflation. Yeah that makes sense. www.theguardian.com/business/gro...

In many of the first generation of modern concentration camp systems (near the turn of the twentieth century), the vast majority of deaths were caused by disease and malnutrition. Most of the victims were women and children.

convergence of Trump policies is exponential escalation of the catastrophes he has unleashed