Law, Power, and Justice

Thursday Morning 19 October 2023

News Notes

Gaza (11:30 AM)

• Humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians, while essential, will not solve the problem.
• I have read that people now think that a two-state solution is no longer even within the realm of reality.
• Several commentators have blamed the press for jumping out too soon and printing veiled claims that Israel was responsible for the bombing of the hospital for the fact that Jordan and Egypt cancelled meeting with Biden.
• 30,000 Hamas military fighters are in Gaza according to Barry McCaffrey.

“The New Economic Security State: How De-Risking will Remake Geopolitics.”  Foreign Affairs (10/19/23)

• National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently gave a major address about economics.
• His argument  was that decades of free-market zealotry had weakened the country’s national security.
• The dependencies built up over decades of liberalism – from supply-chain vulnerabilities in medical equipment, semiconductors, and critical minerals.
• This economic liberalization has not created peace.
• “…a simplistic faith in the magic of markets had hollowed out U.S. industry, welcomed a rising adversary (China) into free-trade arrangements, and riddled global supply chains with critical security vulnerabilities.” (quoted from article)
• In the post Cold War era, politicians prioritized markets over security “hoping that economic liberalism and interdependence would underpin peace.”