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AUT STRIKE ON TUESDAY 25TH MAY: EXAM CONCERNS
Issue No 295 Monday 17 May 1999
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Editorial correspondence should be sent to InkyText@lancaster.ac.uk
Subscription requests to Inkytext-distribution-request@lists.lancaster.ac.uk
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AGENDA
Minutes, Amendments, Matters arising
1. Editorial: War, Justice and Grandchildren
2. News: AUT Strike, JIF bids, JIF costs, Charter and Statutes, Executive
decision making.
3. Trent Park Conference on the Future of NATO
4. Small Ads: Room to let, Houses for sale, Accommodation wanted, Car,
Houses to let, Lake district Chalet, Child's bike seat, Camping kit wanted.
5. "Palestinian reflections on the Kosovol crisis" By Omar Qourah
6. Readers' Letters: JIF, International Law, Nato bombings, Millennium Bridge
and the local elections.
MINUTES, AMENDMENTS, MATTERS ARISING
------------------------------------
AUT VOTE: the percentage in favour of strike action was 58 percent of
those voting, not of all members. Out of a total of 91,400 academics,
researchers and administrators in 'old' (pre-1992) universities, only
9,858 voted for strike action. AUT membership is understood to be of
the order of 42 000, of which some 36000 are believed to be in the
relevant (=pre-1992) universities. Those voting for strike action thus
represent about 28 percent of those AUT members eligible to vote.
A reader asks why a normally mistrustful, sceptical and cynical
journal like ours should be willing to believe the official US account
of the Chinese Embassy bombing. The answer is that something so
far-fetched can't be an invention simply because anyone sane could have
dreamt up something far more plausible. Reminds me of the time, many
years ago, when I plaintively had to phone my wife to explain that the
reason I couldn't be home before 4.00 a.m was that I'd been kidnapped
by the police and taken against my will to a stag night in a brewery in
Blackburn. Improbable, pataphysical, but perfectly true.
1. EDITORIAL: WAR, JUSTICE AND GRANDCHILDREN
--------------------------------------------
Was it the summer of '82 or '83? After the Falklands War anyhow. My
father-in-law was driving and we had parked at Devil's Point,
overlooking that part of Plymouth Sound called the Hamoaze where, at
high tide, warships entering or leaving Devonport follow the deep-water
channel barely yards from the shore.
Another triumphant frigate (HMS Active? Ardent? Aurora?) was returning
victoriously from the South Atlantic, flag-bedecked and escorted by
fire-fighting tugs swooshing columns of water into the air. Elsewhere,
out at the breakwater, helicopters were unloading heavy equipment like
the stuff that, earlier in the year, one fine spring day, we had
watched them lowering, along with endless crates of Double Diamond, on
to the ill-fated Atlantic Conveyor.
My wife was explaining to our daughters what a tank was, and mentioned
that that was what Grandpa had been in during the war. "Did you kill
anyone, Grandpa?" asked my bloodthirsty nearly 3-year old daughter.
"Don't be silly", said her 4-year old sister, "Grandpa wouldn't shoot
anyone. He goes to church".
My father-in-law, decorated, thrice-wounded, twice mentioned in
despatches, was, from 1944 to 1946, a tank troop commander, and later
tank squadron commander, with 141 Royal Armoured Corps, travelling
through Normandy, the Channel Ports and the Ardennes in 'Crocs',
flame-throwing Churchill tanks towing mini-tankers of napthalene.
"I'm afraid I did, my dear", he replied, never patronising but sensing
the sensitivity of the moment, "there are some bad people and terrible
things happen in wars".
"How many, how many?", asked the bloodthirsty one eagerly, "more than
10, more than 100?" "I just don't know", he replied honestly,
"Sometimes you can't stop to find out. Certainly more than 10 and maybe
fewer than 100, but my men killed many more as well".
My elder daughter blinked back tears and fell silent, then asked how,
if you didn't even know whom you were killing, you could tell
whether they were bad or not. Quite.
2. NEWS
-------
AUT STRIKE: The national executive of the AUT has called a 24 hour
strike on Tuesday 24 May. Further action includes immediately stopping
work on appraisal, quality assessment, etc. plus non-involvement in
examining duties on 4 dates in June, and in admissions duties on a
further 4 dates in August, the exact timings to be decided locally.
The AUT's decision not to announce overall voting figures in its
national press release was rather disingenuous, and made it too easy
for UCEA (employers' salary negotiating body) to publish them itself in
its own press release, along with some scathing and probably ill-judged
comparisons ("substantially higher than the decreasing inflation rate
(2.1%) higher than pay settlements elsewhere (eg 3% for one million
workers in local authorities) higher than the 2.4 % increase in
government funding to universities, etc.").
The ballot result is itself likely to have some impact on the divided
Bett committee on our remuneration, the date of whose report has
deliberately now been put back.
Locally, there was some surprise at the outcome of the national
ballot, and a widespread feeling that the VC's circular had perhaps
been marginally counter-productive, inspiring to bloody-minded apathy
some members who might otherwise have voted for acceptance of the
pay-offer.
It is hard to detect, except among union activists, any strong passion
for effective strike-action likely to interfere with the 38 exams
scheduled for the day in question. Not least because we can all see the
distress that this would cause primarily to our own students, not to
mention the chaos we'd have to clear up afterwards.
The LAUT President, Prof Kirby, had a discussion with the VC on Friday
afternoon. It is thought likely that he pledged himself to ensure that
no students are adversely affected by whatever action is decided. An
emergency meeting of the LAUT executive takes place tomorrow evening
(Tuesday) and there will be a general meeting on Wednesday at 1.00. in
the Cavendish Colloquium Room.
LUSU does not currently have any policy on the issue. One senses some
embarrassment. The NUS national president has of course written to the
AUT expressing support.
OUTCOMES OF THE FIRST ROUND OF JIF BIDS: We didn't do at all as badly
in these as it seemed at first sight. Prof Keith Bevan is a participant
in a succeesful bid led from elsewhere, and (see Readers' Letters)
another of our bids has been carried forward. You can find the overall
picture at
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/News/default.asp?Page=hefce/1999/jif1105
Only 22 institutions were successful and there were 37 bids approved.
That is an average of one and a half successes per the top 22
institutions. The JIF system is directed to technical subjects, of
which Lancaster's share is well below the average, so even getting
one in this round is good. Even 100% technically-based institutions
such as Imperial only got 4.
Discounting Imperial, Oxford and Cambridge, then 19 institutions
shared 25 grants. Bristol only got one, Manchester only one, Leeds only
one, and York, Sussex, Sheffield, Exeter, RHBNC, etc etc, none at all.
The fact that we put in a lot of bids compared with the average yet got
only one might be thought a sign of greed rather than underperformance.
COST OF JIF BIDS: When the JIF scheme was announced, Council agreed to
approve spending of up to 400K on the preparation of bids. This was
because it had initially been intended to require full planning
permission for any buildings proposed. It was clear that this was a
costly absurdity given the bids likely to be rejected, and the rules
were changed to require outline planning permission only. No news of
how much we have spent so far on architects and quantity surveyors, but
only a small fraction of the sum notionally set aside.
THE CHARTER AND STATUTES revision group met again on the membership of
Council last week. The chairman (Pro-Chancellor) seems a bit out on a
limb and clearly sees himself more as a representative of the
self-established Council of University Chairs rather than of any more
local consituency. The next meeting of this body will have to decide
proposals to put to Senate and council. The only major ones likely to
be agreed are legal rewordings proposed by Prof Rowe to satisfy
statutory changes and to the establishment of faculties and deans.
WORRYING REPORTS OF OVERWEENING decision-making by officers in
University House, without reference, except retrospectively, to the
legitimate decision-making bodies. We've been here before. More anon.
3. TRENT PARK CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF NATO
----------------------------------------------
Members of various Politics lists recently received invitations to the
4TH ANNUAL TRENT PARK CONFERENCE
ON THE FUTURE OF THE ATLANTIC COMMUNITY
whose subject is to be: "NATO's future and Atlantic friendships and
rivalries".
This pataphysically-timed event is organised by the Centre for Study
of International Affairs (Europe and America), School of Humanities and
Cultural Studies, Middlesex University, in collaboration with the
Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom and Baylor University, Texas.
Some might feel that NATO was born of the Cold War, justified its
existence by reference thereto and should logically have died with the
Cold War. NATO without the Warsaw Pact is fish without chips, Morecambe
without Wise, Romeo sans Juliet.
It was after all, as one explained to mocking Russian friends in the
60s, not an aggressive and proactive alliance, merely a passive mutual
self-defence treaty. When, as now, even ex-Warsaw pact members join it,
something pataphysical has clearly happened.
There remain however a substantial number of cushy military and
diplomatic posts at stake, with tax-free allowances and a cheerfully
sprouting Brussels life style. Not something to give up without a
fight. Hence the clear need for the recent 50th birthday jamboree and
other attempts to find a role.
This is a pity, for it has stifled the fledgling OSCE (Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe), a body some felt better suited to
preventing or policing war in Europe (and on whose Council one of the
UK representatives is the late Ralph Gibson's brother-in-law).
Somewhat tactlessly, an invitation to the conference was sent to Prof.
Slobodanka Nedovic, School of Law, University of Belgrade, who replied:
"I am most definitely NOT cordially invited. On the contrary, I am
visited by the topic of your conference, without invitation, every day
and night. You guessed right: I live in Belgrade.
And no, I am not Milosevic's follower, just as 1.5 million of
Belgraders are not. Remember the Protest against him in Belgrade and
all the major cities here, that NATO now bombs constantly? Close to one
hundred days in the streets. Carrying USA and EU banners. What are we
to carry now? Are you going to answer this question at your conference?
I cannot believe that you are planning a conference on NATO without
even mentioning the actual goings on. Where do you live? Planet Earth
calling to the School of Humanities (???) and Cultural Studies!
You might try inviting experts from Yugoslavia (or if that is too
bold, maybe Russia, or China, perhaps?) I'm sure it would add flavor to
your "terrace of the 18th century mansion" atmosphere. And when NATO
makes some kind of "patchwork" deal with Milosevic, leaving refugees
where they are, with the opposition in Serbia destroyed, Milosevic
voted "President for lifetime", are you going to organise a new
conference, with some Serbian guest speakers?"
Bob Jiggins of Bradford's Research Unit in South East European Studies
commented:
"I am frankly amazed that such a conference, with these speakers,
could be organised in the midst of this war - it beggars belief.
[...]
When this miserable war is over (perhaps if would be better) it will
be recognised that there are no 'winners' - instead it will be ordinary
Yugoslav citizens (Serbs, Montenegrins, Albanians, Roma etc.) who are
the losers. Moreover it will be those citizens who have to pick up the
pieces - and hopefully honourable 'Westerners' will do likewise.
We have to work with our colleagues in Yugoslavia afterwards - and now
as well - and eventually will begin the long task of building a
sustainable and equitable peace. You can be sure that neither Milosevic
nor NATO will help ordinary Yugoslavs to recover their futures as they
desire. In other words we have to maintain a dialogue (that means now -
and with the 'enemy'!) - a conference and publicity such as this only
makes the task more difficult who for those who stay behind (after the
military and strategic analysts have forgotten all about it). I would
hope that an apology would be forthcoming - although I very much doubt
it..."
4. SMALL ADS
------------
ROOM FOR RENT IN FIVE PERSON HOUSE near the centre of Lancaster, only
30 per week (plus bills). Quiet, friendly household, non-smokers
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-------------
FOR SALE: 5ft GRAND PIANO (Rogers). Good condition. 3000 GBP ono.
Telephone 01524 791 516
---------------
HOUSE FOR RENT: August 15th -January 28th 1999. Ideal for visiting
academic. 200 year-old terraced cottage, overlooking the Forest of
Bowland, in small, quiet village 5 miles from University campus (car
essential). Double Bedroom/study, bath/shower, fully-equipped kitchen
and lounge with sofa bed. 375 pounds per month. Contact:
j.stacey@lancaster.ac.uk (01524-594184).
-----------
SELF CATERING ACCOMMODATION TO LET. Tower Wood - Windermere. The
Brackens Chalet is set in the grounds of our Lake District Home
offering much superb accommodation for up to 6 people. Completely
self-contained and comprising of Living Room/Dining Room (Sofa Bed);
Galley Kitchen; Twin and Double Bedrooms; Shower Room/WC. The Chalet is
located in a slightly elevated position enjoying rural Lakeland
surroundings and has its own Patio and private parking. Situated 5
miles from Bowness and Windermere. Ideal opportunities for cyclists.
Heating & Electric inclusive; Bed linen and Towels available for a
charge; Mountain Bike hire 12 pounds per day (including helmet and
routes); Children age 5+ welcome; No Smoking within Chalet; No pets;
Short breaks available - please enquire. Tim and Angela Fergie 01539
821611
--------------
HOUSE TO LET: Smart four bedroom house in Lancaster, convenient to
town and railway station is available to let. Fully furnished, gas
central heating, garden, washing machine. Ideal for family or two
couples sharing (double bedroom plus study/sitting room for each).
Long or short lets considered. 495 pounds per calendar month exclusive
of bills and council tax. Suit post-graduates / staff. No smokers / no
pets. Tel. 849504 or 592453, or m.sebba@lancaster.ac.uk
---------------
WANTED: SECOND-HAND CAMPING EQUIPMENT. Especially Thermarests, and a
lightweight cookset. Contact: s.mackereth@lancaster.ac.uk
---------------
WANTED: CHILD'S SEAT for use on adult mountain bike. Suitable for
child aged 14 months - 3 years. In good condition. Please phone: 01524
67977 evenings or extension 93904 Mondays and Tuesdays.
-----------
FORD FIESTA 1.6 SI 16V, M reg (Oct.94), 20,000 miles only, in Java
Blue. Excellent condition. 5,200. Phone Chris extn. 94248.
-----------
HOUSE FOR SALE - Semi-detached bungalow in a quiet cul-de-sac. 5 mins
drive from town centre, close to primary and high schools. 3 bedrooms,
central heating, double glazed. Fully furnished (bedroom furniture,
carpets, electrical appliances, etc.) Gardens to the front, side and
rear (2 apple trees and 1 cherry tree.) Detached garage. Additional
space beside garage currently used as play area. Price - 57,000. If
interested contact - Khadija Al-Ali. Ph: 01524-840986 Email:
e.priyadharshini@lancaster.ac.uk
5. "PALESTINIAN REFLECTIONS ON THE KOSOVO CRISIS" By Omar Qourah
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[NOTE: Omar Qourah, a Palestinian, is a graduate student at American
University in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at
Omar@MiddleEast.Org. His article appeared on the A - I N F O S N E W S
S E R V I C E list (http://www.ainfos.ca/) and is reproduced here with
acknowledgments. It completes and concludes our survey of Zionist,
non-Zionist and Palestinian views on analogies between Kosovo and
Palestine. No further correspondence on this matter, please. (Ed.)]
As a Palestinian who was born a quarter of a century after and spared
the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 that galvanized Palestine and sent most
of our Palestinian people then fleeing to nearby later-hostile Arab
countries, I have often wondered what it must have been like to be
there and witness it all. [...]
Today, I do not have to tax my imagination trying to reconstruct the
scenes in my mind, or the horrors and sense of loss the Palestinians
went through then. Mass Media has provided us all with similar images
from the ongoing Kosovo crisis. And I emphasize images here since some
of the real motives behind the US led NATO shelling of Yugoslavia and
the fact that the evacuation of ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo was
pre-determined and expected by the NATO Allies and the Clinton
administration are hidden from us.
A number of seasoned journalists, intellectuals, and observers have
pointed to European, mainly German, territorial expansion plans for the
area of former Yugoslavia, and to certainly the fateful mistake of
trying to settle deep historical problems by force. The pictures of and
stories about Kosovar Albanians being terrorized to leave their homes -
by means of fire, force, murder, and rape - are not different at all
form the account about Zionist gangs that evacuated three quarter of a
million Palestinians within a year from their homes. [...]
The Kosovo Albanians are demographically similar to the Palestinians
refugees then as mainly rural, traditional Muslims. They are, as the
Palestinians then and now, without real leadership and institutions.
There are legitimate comparisons that can be made between the Kosovo
crisis today and Palestine of 1948. The Serbs' religious and historic
claim to Kosovo is similar to modern-day Israel's religious and
historical to the historical land of Palestine, but certainly no excuse
or reason, in my opinion, for cleansing another people that has been
there for hundreds of years.
The real sick motive behind it of course is to create an
ethnically-homogeneous society. Another impressive similarity is, as
the Kosovars will soon discover, the number of parties and the
countries that are involved in this crisis and are promising help to
the refugees, but which, I believe, will never go in their efforts far
beyond giving food, refugee camps, and maybe for the lucky ones,
resettlement in other friendly countries.
One could safely assume, given the evidence of the Serbian
pre-determined mindset to evacuate the Albanians out of Kosovo, NATO's
awareness of that fact, its preparations to receive refugees at the
borders a while before the bombing began and the talk about partition
of Kosovo and resettlement of ousted Krajina Serbian refugees,
hint at a future not-too-pleasant for the Albanians. Does not that
sound sadly similar to the 1930's and 40's Zionist plan "Dalt" to
evacuate Arabs out of Palestine?
What about the UN Partition Plan of 1947 which aimed at dividing
Palestine into Arab and Jewish states? What about Britain's and the
UN's utter failure to remedy the situation in Palestine peacefully and
its looking-the-other-way when it came to Zionist armament? What about
the resettlement of European Jews, who escaped the horrors of
anti-Semitism and Hitler, in their place? And finally, what about
Israel's insistence first that there are no Palestinians and its till
today continual main-stream deferment ideologically and politically of
discussing the problem of the Palestinian refugees' and their
descendants' just and fair claim to recognition, compensation, and
apology?
How ironic that Israel have admitted to date 104 Albanian refugees
while still stubbornly refusing to deal with and discuss the refugee
problem it has created of 4 million Palestinians who have lost
everything to become wanderers or persona non grata (something referred
to by Israel's revisionist historians as Israel's original sin).
Perhaps that is why Israel's Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon at first
decided to oppose NATO's bombing campaign of Yugoslavia for fear that
the same criteria be applied to Israel in the future. It could be a
manifestation of his own insecurity as a long-time proponent of the
transfer solution, which calls for driving out the Palestinians of the
West Bank and Gaza to Jordan to establish a state there.
It is unfortunate that after a century of war and destruction the
"civilized world", as the NATO/West loves to call itself, has failed to
bring about a civilized resolution of a potentially explosive crisis in
an area that witnessed the start of both World Wars I & II. The solution
for NATO leaders seems to be bomb, bomb, and bomb. The Kosovo crisis
has so far caused the ire of other countries and threatens to drag on
longer. Already there is talk about calling 33, 000 more US troops an
NATO plans to continue bombing for months to come, in the meantime
certain segments in the Russian society are expressing their anger
against the US and pressuring their government for action.
Perhaps this crisis will be settled temporarily with the partition of
Kosovo and resettlement of some of the Albanian refugees in neighbouring
countries. That, again, is a temporary solution since partition and
displacement of original inhabitants has never been a fair and just
solution as we can derive from post-1948 Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
Arab-Israeli wars, and the continuous sham of the "peace process". To
quote the words of the journalist Christopher Hitchens writing recently
in The Nation Magazine (4/17/99- 5/3/99):
"Somewhere at the back of NATO's mind there is a project for
the partition and amputation of Kosovo, and nobody who has
studied the partitions of Ireland, India, Cyprus, Palestine and
Bosnia can believe for an instant that partition can be
accomplished without ethnic cleansing. Of course, all
partitions lead to further wars and further partitions."
No one can safely predict what the outcome of this crisis will be. But
for now at least, the Kosovo Albanians, although receiving exceptional
media coverage, have joined the list of the twentieth century's most
dispossessed and displaced peoples: the Jews, the Armenians, the Kurds
and the Palestinians.
6. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
Please note that your statement that 'none of the other JIF bids was
successful' is a little misleading, since the bid for a High
Performance Computing Facility, co-ordinated by myself on behalf of
Physics, E.S. and Statistics was deferred to the next round. This
happened because EPSRC lost a suggested list of referees and failed to
collect enough referees reports in time for the panel meeting.
Colin Lambert
---------------------------------
Although a correspondents sees my thoughts on local issues as 'of
nothing worth', what thoughts did the voters of Castle Ward have last
Thursday? Equally trivial I suppose - but effective.
Of course, pedestrians need a fume-free and aggressive-cyclist-free
bridge to cross the Lune. Since high-masted boats never come above
'gasworks quay', this could be provided simply, by dropping the
foot/cycle bridge on Carlisle Bridge down to quay level. The Green
Party would surely welcome the saving in fossil fuels and pollution,
which would result from not producing the extra tons of steel and
cement that the Folly would require.
Let us generously assume about 1000 people will regularly use the
currently proposed bridge. Next, recognise that there will have to be
debt interest and repayment charges on the local authority funds needed
to top up the grant (The grant is not just for the bridge, but all
sorts of cycleways up beyond Halton). The top-up required will be about
2m pounds ( even if it comes from despoiling the drumlins of South
Lancaster with housing), equivalent to debt charges of 200K p.a. or
200K per regular user. Wouldn't it be cheaper and more environmentally
friendly to buy these users a bus pass?
Whilst on these Luneside issues, does anybody know the exact nature of
the pollution around the gasometer which is causing so much concern? Is
it safe to eat fish that have swum past these troubled waters?
Michael Jackson
-----------------------------
"Nato mounts its heaviest day of bombing against Yugoslavia so far,
with raids concentrated on ground forces in Kosovo. "
This is just getting so Orwellian, every day NATO is stepping up its
attacks, inflicting the heaviest bombardment yet- I assume it must just
mean on extra bomb, if it were significant increases Yugoslavia would
be flat by now.
How do the Media know its the heaviest day yet? Because NATO told
them, and they uncritically passed the information on (quick check in
Chomsky and Herman's 'Manufacturing Consent', and there we have it,
uncritical reliance on state info hand outs)- this isn't News, its a
direct propaganda feed from NATO.
Bill Martin
--------------------------
Professors Picciotto and Rowe provide a valuable summary of the legal
issues surrounding the war in the Balkans. My provisional suggestion is
that we should focus on the actual utility of the laws in question.
What use, for example, is the UN Charter? It would appear to have no
coercive force and there is no law without enforcement. What about the
NATO constitution? Seemingly it is a malleable document which can be
interpreted, pressed and shaped to the present needs of the US.
UN Security Council resolutions, or the lack of such, are not
something we can reliably refer to: history tells us that enforcement
of resolutions is less than constant. In such circumstances an
inversion such as the enforcement of UN resolutions that do not exist
seems all too apt.
International law thus strikes me as a singularly useless set of
codes, conventions and treaties, inasmuch as there is nobody to enforce
it universally. Is not universality the very `essence of law? Yet I do
see some indirect utility and this lies in what we can learn from the
way these very fine principles are treated by our leaders.
In this respect international law serves us very well indeed.
Clinton, Blair and all their foolish allies are shown up as being,
legally speaking, quite as bad and tyrannical as Milosevic. A harsh
judgement, but if you look at the legal infractions committed by
Milosevic and co, and those committed by Clinton et al, there is very
little to separate them.
Both sets of 'leaders' have defied the UN Charter and various Security
Council resolutions in their time. Both have torn up legally binding
constitutions (NATO's and Yugoslavia's). Both have illegally targeted
civilians. Both have waged war for narrow political reasons rather than
in the cause of self-defence or the defence of the weak.
The lack of practical utility, when it comes to international law as a
whole, is confirmed by Mr Shea's reaction to the Yugoslav regime's suit
against the 10 war-making NATO countries at the International Court of
Justice (a potentially practical aim being to seek an interim injunction
stopping the bombing): 'the court has no jurisdiction over the air
campaign.' Quite why it doesn't wasn't explained but, as the ICJ is an
appendage of the UN, we might expect any rulings it may hand down to be
ignored by the NATO junta from sheer force of habit.
The shattering of the grand illusion of 'international law' is one
small mercy to be derived from the Balkan Disaster. The real issue here
is not one of international law but, rather, the issue of the
prerogative of power that allows our government to make war in the name
of the people of this state. Until all states bring such power under
truly democratic (and perhaps judicial) control 'international law'
will remain a worthy but elusive dream.
Nick Bardsley
----------------------------