The hottest International Law Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top World Politics Topics

Call of Duty

Doomberg • 7389 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment International Law
  1. A deadly factory collapse helped prompt a French duty-of-vigilance law that makes large companies responsible for preventing serious human-rights, health, safety, and environmental harms across their subsidiaries and supply chains, with potential civil liability.
  2. The law is vague about whether and how companies must address climate change, causing uneven corporate responses and frustration among stakeholders.
  3. A landmark Paris trial against TotalEnergies could force companies to cut oil and gas production to meet national climate commitments, setting a precedent with big implications for multinational liability and France’s energy industry.

Jeffrey Sachs Is Trying To Fix The New York Times' Iran War Coverage, One Email At A Time

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 2828 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The US pursued a “maximum pressure” strategy—using sanctions and economic measures early on—to weaken Iran and push for regime change, which helped trigger economic collapse and street protests. Major media outlets have largely failed to report this connection.
  2. Current US and Israeli military actions against Iran look like unjustified aggression rather than lawful self‑defense and risk a severe global energy crisis, stagflation, and long recovery times for damaged infrastructure. Global leaders need to publicly pressure Washington and Tel Aviv to stop the attacks.
  3. A powerful, unaccountable “deep state”—including intelligence agencies and military interests—drives aggressive foreign policy with little congressional oversight, and officials who promise reform often get co‑opted. Strong, independent investigations and oversight are urgently needed to restore democratic control.

Why Americans Should Root for Iran

Nonzero Newsletter • 1615 implied HN points • 14 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Iran’s war aim is to make future attacks on it too costly so they won’t be repeated, and if it succeeds that could push Gulf states to help build a more stable regional security architecture.
  2. Israel’s strategy of repeated punitive strikes (the “mowing the lawn” approach) and recent U.S.-backed attacks have been major drivers of instability, so political checks on such adventurism would likely reduce future violence.
  3. Many Iranian actions are reactive to past foreign interventions, so labeling Iran the sole destabilizer ignores important context; negotiated guarantees, sanctions relief, or a return to nuclear diplomacy could help lock in a lasting ceasefire and fewer future deaths.

Welcome to Chaos World

Noahpinion • 19941 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The U.S. abduction of a foreign leader without clear international backing shows the old global order and norms are breaking down.
  2. The raid seemed driven more by American domestic politics and opportunism than by enforcing global rules, revealing a mercurial and self-interested use of U.S. power.
  3. Because motives were unclear and unpredictable, the action has amplified global uncertainty and could encourage other countries to arm themselves, settle scores, and act more aggressively.

NZNet Digest: Lawlessness as the New Normal

Nonzero Newsletter • 361 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. International rules are breaking down as powerful actors carry out unlawful actions. Most opposition focuses on cost or practicality instead of principle, which weakens the rules‑based order and makes negotiations harder.
  2. AI tools are reshaping software work: open‑source agents and “vibe‑coding” let non‑experts prototype quickly and can feel like having multiple engineers. The durable value, however, is likely to concentrate in the models, training data, and infrastructure rather than the interchangeable builders.
  3. Breaking informal norms at home can unravel social expectations and normalize harmful behavior. That erosion shows up in politics, community safety concerns, and debates over public symbols of support for foreign governments.
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What I'm reading about Dubai influencers, data-center missile strikes, and Iran; a great and sleazy Elmore Leonard adaptation, and more

Read Max • 711 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. A curated reading list dives into the war in Iran, covering unexpected angles like Dubai influencers, undersea cables, missile attacks on data centers, and the strain on the foreign-policy establishment and international law.
  2. A stylish, sleazy film adaptation of an Elmore Leonard story is highlighted and recommended.
  3. Four music tracks are recommended, and subscribers are offered extras like weekly emails, curated master lists, and merch, with some links that may pay a small commission.

Iran and the immorality of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google

Nonzero Newsletter • 1253 implied HN points • 07 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Special interests and biased media framing distort how America views Iran. That encourages misreading defensive actions as offensive and makes preemptive war more likely.
  2. Big AI firms have provided models used in Pentagon-linked targeting tools, linking those companies to strikes that killed civilians. Promises to avoid fully autonomous weapons don’t absolve firms when their tech is used to plan lethal operations.
  3. Domestic politics are shifting: a top DHS leader resigned and polls show Americans increasingly view fellow citizens as morally bad. These trends signal weakening support for current immigration enforcement and growing civic distrust.

Going to War, Again, for Israel

The Chris Hedges Report • 920 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The United States is being pulled into a war that mainly serves Israeli goals, not American interests, risking American lives and flouting international norms.
  2. Israel and its lobby have huge influence over U.S. politics, using money, trips, and pressure to secure massive military aid and political support.
  3. The conflict will be costly and prolonged, causing many deaths, spiking oil prices, regional chaos and likely long-term failure like past regime-change wars.

Regime Change in Venezuela Is a Good Calculated Risk

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 6022 implied HN points • 03 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Overthrowing Maduro was a calculated risk because his socialist rule devastated Venezuela’s economy and institutions, and replacing him could produce meaningful improvement.
  2. Fears about unintended consequences, civil war, or breaches of international law are real but don’t automatically justify keeping a destructive dictator in power; doing nothing also has severe costs.
  3. The taboo against foreign regime change is weak already, so this single operation is unlikely to upend international norms, and sometimes taking risks is necessary to create hope for better outcomes.

Chartbook 423 Some topical material on Venezuela. Hopefully useful.

Chartbook • 4334 implied HN points • 05 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Venezuela’s oil story has three phases: rapid growth under high rent extraction until the 1976 nationalisation, a 1990s–2000s recovery after the Apertura that drew big foreign investment, and a sharp collapse in the mid-2010s that sanctions and institutional decline worsened.
  2. The headline that Venezuela has the “largest oil reserves” is misleading because much of the booked volume is extra‑heavy Orinoco crude that is expensive and technically hard to produce; proved reserves shift with prices, technology, and institutional capacity.
  3. Opening to foreign investors brought large CAPEX but later policy re‑structuring triggered massive arbitration claims and litigation, so whoever governs Venezuela faces both valuable assets and large liabilities amid geopolitically driven interventions and sanctions.

Dissecting The Belief That The US Should Forcibly Remove Tyrannical Governments

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1830 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Just because a government commits abuses doesn't automatically justify the United States using military force to overthrow it. Those are two separate claims and forcing regime change needs its own independent moral and legal justification.
  2. The United States has a long record of harmful interventions and often makes situations worse, so it's one of the least qualified actors to claim humanitarian motives. US foreign policy frequently serves geopolitical hegemony rather than genuinely stopping abuses.
  3. Media and political narratives often conflate 'government X is bad' with 'the US should intervene,' so it's important to question assumptions and propaganda. Look at who benefits and whether the motive is truly humanitarian or about power and influence.

Iran's Inalienable Right to Enrich

Gordian Knot News • 117 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The NPT affirms every party’s right to develop peaceful nuclear energy, but that right is limited by commitments not to pursue or acquire nuclear weapons and to accept full IAEA inspections.
  2. The treaty itself is vague on enforcement, so breaches can lead to escalating measures—sanctions first and potentially force if other responses fail.
  3. The United States has undercut the treaty’s promise of the “fullest possible exchange” by restricting peaceful nuclear cooperation, such as blocking exports of reactors like the Korean APR1400.

“Winning the AI race” could be bad for the world

Nonzero Newsletter • 722 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Rushing to win an AI arms race to beat other nations is risky and might not make the world safer, because overwhelming AI power could be misused by whoever gets it.
  2. Tech leaders are pushing rapid AI development and bigger energy and infrastructure buildouts even while admitting AI could create new, grave governance problems, which makes that push worrying.
  3. Visual data can mislead — choices like different axis scales or omitting key countries can give a false impression, so graphs about things like nuclear stockpiles need careful, comparable design.

that's all, folks!

alice maz • 114 implied HN points • 07 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The current international order is a symbolic system kept alive by rituals and a hegemon’s willingness to enforce it, and its survival depends largely on American choices rather than inevitable decline.
  2. Law and political legitimacy rest on the hard fact of violence turned into institutions and internal beliefs; when people stop believing in those abstractions, order weakens because enforcement can be weaponized or abandoned.
  3. There are competing futures — pooled multilateral resistance by smaller states, a tightened Western sphere, or fragmented great-power rivalry — and new ideas and communities (a modern “Hundred Schools”) will arise to rebuild meaning and governance if politics doesn’t slide into prolonged conflict.

The Increasing Attacks on Francesca Albanese Presage a New Dark Age

The Chris Hedges Report • 511 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has been hit by a coordinated campaign from the U.S., Israel and several European governments that includes public attacks, sanctions and measures that block her travel and access to banking.
  2. Those attacks use misleading clips and political pressure to silence criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank, even as many governments continue supplying arms and contributing to a worsening humanitarian crisis.
  3. The trend reflects a worrying erosion of international law and free speech, where powerful states can punish critics and shield abuses, risking greater impunity and repression worldwide.

Israel Surrenders To The Truth: Admits 70,000 Killed In Gaza

Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey • 714 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The Israeli military has acknowledged about 70,000 deaths in Gaza, roughly matching the Gaza Health Ministry's count. That figure does not include bodies still under rubble or people who died from disease or malnutrition.
  2. Israel and many of its political and media supporters spent years publicly discrediting the Gaza Health Ministry’s fatality numbers, a campaign that influenced U.S. officials and even congressional and Pentagon restrictions on citing the figures.
  3. Multiple independent organizations, visiting medical witnesses, and leaked Israeli data point to a very high civilian death rate and tactics—heavy bombing, large bombs in dense areas, and shootings at civilians—that raise serious war‑crime concerns likely to be further scrutinized if Gaza is opened fully to journalists.

Democrats, Press Gloss Over Original "Double Tap" Operations

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 3603 implied HN points • 04 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics International Law
  1. Follow-up 'double-tap' strikes that aim at rescuers have been used in U.S. drone campaigns for years and similar tactics are resurfacing more openly today.
  2. Attacking the wounded and first responders breaks international humanitarian law, kills civilians, and spreads terror that pushes local populations toward violence or hostility.
  3. Political and media reactions have been inconsistent and often hypocritical, helping normalize lawless tactics and weakening global legal norms that protect civilians.

Israel Bans Aid Groups For The Same Reason It Bans Journalists, And Other Notes

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 2021 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Israel has banned dozens of aid organizations from operating in Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam, which looks like an effort to remove witnesses and limit independent reporting much like its ban on journalists.
  2. Humanitarian groups, especially MSF, publicly documented systematic attacks on hospitals, destruction of medical equipment, and deliberate deprivation of essentials, with some reports characterizing the actions as tantamount to genocide.
  3. Pro‑Israel lobbyists and political leaders are pushing to silence criticism in Western democracies, and allied governments — notably the U.S. under Trump in 2025 — have shown hypocrisy by expanding military actions while claiming pro‑free‑speech and anti‑war stances.

Venezuela: The Precedents

Thinking about... • 1029 implied HN points • 04 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The U.S. action in Venezuela continues a long pattern of choosing foreign leaders to advance American interests rather than promoting genuine democracy, and the sensible response would be to hold or recognize legitimate elections.
  2. Forcibly removing a leader does not reliably create stability or democracy — the Iraq example shows occupations breed chaos and can force occupiers to cooperate with the very forces they claimed to overthrow; backing violence undermines legitimacy and invites unpredictable resistance.
  3. Ignoring international law and using foreign interventions as tools for domestic political gain makes the U.S. resemble authoritarian powers and risks normalizing violence at home, so courts, journalists, Congress, and elections must check that logic.

Resistance 101 Documentary Trailer (COMING FEB. 21)

The Chris Hedges Report • 216 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Italian dockworkers have organized strikes and large demonstrations to block arms shipments to Israel in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
  2. Their actions are a direct response to international institutions and governments that have refused to confront the violence.
  3. These industrial disruptions are offered as a model of resistance that could spread to other countries and possibly influence efforts to end the genocide.

Jimmy Lai Gets 20 Years. The Fight to Free Him Must Go On.

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 412 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Jimmy Lai, a 78-year-old pro-democracy publisher, was sentenced to 20 years under Hong Kong’s national security law, showing how the law can be used to target journalists.
  2. The heavy sentence underscores the erosion of Hong Kong’s promised autonomy under “one country, two systems” and represents a major blow to press freedom.
  3. Sustained pressure from Western governments could still secure his release and may be necessary to prevent him from dying in prison, so international advocacy remains crucial.

America is a Gangster State

The Chris Hedges Report • 1070 implied HN points • 03 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. U.S. actions like kidnapping foreign leaders show it behaving as a gangster state that tramples international and humanitarian law.
  2. Violent interventions and regime change do not bring peace; they create more violence, failed states, warlords, and lasting chaos as seen in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya.
  3. When local militaries and security forces resist imposed leadership, interventions backfire and create long-term instability that harms everyone, including the intervening country.

China did NOT move "quickly to condemn the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran"

Pekingnology • 124 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. China’s response to the U.S. and Israeli strikes was surprisingly mild and not rapid; Beijing rarely used the word "condemn" and only did so clearly after Khamenei’s killing and in response to civilian casualties.
  2. China repeatedly expressed concern, called for an immediate stop to military actions, urged respect for sovereignty and de‑escalation, and pursued diplomatic moves like a UN Security Council meeting and phone calls between Wang Yi and other foreign ministers.
  3. Beijing also condemned attacks on Gulf countries and strikes on civilians, but its overall wording and timing were more restrained than in some past cases (for example, a much stronger, quicker condemnation of an earlier U.S. attack on Venezuela), showing selective intensity.

Gallipoli II

John’s Substack • 19 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The US president appears desperate and is pushing for China and other allies to join the Iran war while openly considering force to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and seize Kharg Island.
  2. Trying to force open the Strait or mount an amphibious assault on Kharg Island would be highly risky, likely to fail, and would make other countries reluctant to join a war seen as losing.
  3. Close ties to Israeli leaders and their advisers have pulled the US deeper into the conflict, a move that looks like a major strategic mistake.

China on Venezuela

ChinaTalk • 800 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. China condemned the US action as a breach of international law and framed it as American hegemony, sparking a debate at home about whether the raid offers a template or warning for Taiwan. Some commentators see it as a quick‑strike model for forcing faits accomplis, while others insist the Venezuela case is not analogous to cross‑strait issues.
  2. The operation exposed weaknesses in Venezuela’s air defenses that used Chinese equipment, prompting Taiwanese observers to mock Chinese radar and argue US forces can overwhelm systems tied to Chinese arms. Analysts caution, however, that Venezuela lacked China’s most advanced systems and suffered from mixed sourcing and maintenance problems, so the failure may not prove broad Chinese inferiority.
  3. Beijing has real economic stakes in Venezuela — modest oil flows plus roughly $13–15 billion in loans — and the biggest risk is financial and political, not immediate military loss. A US‑aligned government in Caracas could reprioritize creditors or restrict Chinese firms, forcing China to absorb losses or renegotiate access to assets.

Report: European Censorship Accelerates

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 6208 implied HN points • 29 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics International Law
  1. The European Commission is stepping up efforts to control online speech with new laws like the Digital Services Act. This means stricter rules about what can be said or shared online.
  2. European authorities are considering ways to regulate content that isn’t necessarily illegal, which could influence what people in other countries, including the U.S., see online.
  3. There’s a growing concern that European censorship practices are becoming more aggressive, targeting even harmless content, like jokes or memes, raising questions about freedom of speech.

Amnesty International Can’t Handle the Truth About Hamas

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1154 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Amnesty waited a long time to publish its investigation of Hamas’s October 7 atrocities, only releasing the report more than two years after the attacks.
  2. At the same time, the group has been vocally critical of Israel — including a separate finding that Israel is committing genocide — which created a stark contrast in its public focus.
  3. The lengthy delay, internal disputes, and uneven treatment of the two investigations produced a moral muddle and damaged Amnesty’s credibility on impartial human-rights accountability.

America the Rogue State

The Chris Hedges Report • 689 implied HN points • 05 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. America’s democratic checks and balances are collapsing as power concentrates in the executive and corporate interests, sidelining Congress, courts, and diplomacy.
  2. U.S. foreign policy increasingly relies on lawless military interventions and covert actions for strategic and economic gain, producing disasters in countries from Venezuela to Iraq and Libya.
  3. A corporate-controlled media, money-soaked elections, and expanding police and surveillance powers at home suppress dissent, enrich elites, and strip protections for people and the environment.

Why Tump's Venezuela Invasion is "Good"

Erik Examines • 716 implied HN points • 04 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The US kidnapping of Venezuela's leader is a blatant violation of international law and sets a dangerous precedent, even if it also exposes and weakens Trump’s political support.
  2. Venezuela has an existing opposition and some democratic traditions, so a US intervention might avoid the chaos seen in Iraq, but heavy-handed control or an attempt to seize oil could unite Venezuelans and spark violent resistance.
  3. Europe and other democracies need to stop appeasing the US and act together with coordinated, legal measures like sanctions and diplomacy to defend the rules-based order and deter further aggression.

Francesca Albanese and the Lonely Road of Defiance

The Chris Hedges Report • 720 implied HN points • 30 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur, has documented corporate and state complicity in Israel’s occupation and argues the violence in Gaza amounts to genocide.
  2. Her reporting has provoked heavy reprisals—sanctions, asset freezes, travel bans, and institutional cutoffs—that isolate her and illustrate how political power can silence human rights scrutiny.
  3. Despite the attacks, she continues to gather testimonies about torture and urges civil disobedience, strikes, and international solidarity as ways to resist the occupation and rising repression.

After Attacking Iran, The World Must Boycott, Divest, & Sanction The United States of America

JoeWrote • 80 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The U.S. government is accused of running an aggressive, lawless foreign policy that kills civilians and destabilizes regions, with media and elite institutions enabling those actions.
  2. Domestic repression is rising too, with state violence, detention practices, and a failure to hold powerful actors accountable eroding civil liberties at home.
  3. The proposed remedy is international pressure—boycotts, divestment from U.S. financial instruments, and targeted sanctions—until the U.S. accepts international legal accountability and changes its behavior.

Niall Ferguson: The Beginning of the End of the Ukraine-Russia War

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1080 implied HN points • 26 Nov 25
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The U.S. proposed a 28-point peace plan with a Thanksgiving deadline that is informal and being revised as talks continue.
  2. Negotiations have involved leaked documents, meetings in Geneva and Abu Dhabi, and many outside parties, while both sides keep fighting to gain leverage.
  3. Both Ukraine and Russia now need a respite from war, so this initiative may have a better chance of working than skeptics think.

What Will the Future Look Like in the ‘New World Order?’ (w/ John Mearsheimer) | The Chris Hedges Report

The Chris Hedges Report • 174 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. A U.S. leader who favors unilateral use of military and economic power and dismisses international institutions and allies can dismantle the post‑war rules‑based order and leave the country isolated.
  2. The world has shifted from unipolarity to multipolarity with China as a formidable great power, making East Asia the primary strategic flashpoint and increasing the risk of dangerous crises despite deep economic ties.
  3. Eroding the rule of law at home and gutting soft‑power tools while doubling down on fossil‑fuel economics will weaken U.S. influence, harm long‑term competitiveness, and raise the chances of domestic authoritarianism or reckless foreign adventures.

Yemen must be the last straw

New Means • 4284 implied HN points • 14 Jan 24
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Yemen has been enduring bombings and suffering from poverty due to conflict with the involvement of multiple countries.
  2. International laws and principles are being ignored in conflicts like the bombing of Yemen for reasons like shipping delays.
  3. There is a call to build power and organize protests to effect real change and end the cycle of violence and injustice.

March 2, 2026

Letters from an American • 34 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics International Law
  1. The decision to strike Iran looks improvised and driven more by media praise and pressure from allies than by a clear strategic plan. It appears the president is testing justifications and taking cues from trusted broadcasters rather than presenting a coherent goal.
  2. A growing ideology of violent dominance is replacing the post–World War II reliance on diplomacy and international rules, privileging unilateral shows of force over institutions like the U.N. and the Geneva Conventions. This mindset treats dominance itself as the objective rather than a defined endgame.
  3. The strikes have real, damaging consequences: U.S. service members have died, Americans abroad are stranded, and officials’ claims are under increasing scrutiny. People are rightly asking why the country is fighting, whether the effort is legal or planned, and who will bear the costs.

Is the 'New World Order' Really New? (w/ Yanis Varoufakis) | The Chris Hedges Report

The Chris Hedges Report • 185 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. The "Board of Peace" is a private, imperial-style project that sidelines the United Nations and hands reconstruction and security to wealthy actors, which can enable continued displacement and suppression of the local population.
  2. The approach splits up multilateral unity by negotiating with countries one-by-one, forcing allies into silence or uneasy autonomy so they can’t jointly challenge abuses.
  3. This is less a brand-new system than a revival of corporate-colonial tactics that weakens international law and institutions while empowering authoritarian tools and financial tricks, risking long-term instability.

The Flotillas to Gaza Are the World’s Conscience

The Chris Hedges Report • 255 implied HN points • 15 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics International Law
  1. Flotillas are bold acts of resistance that refuse to accept the blockade of Gaza, keeping hope alive and forcing the world to confront its moral duty. They serve both humanitarian and political purposes by shaming complicit governments and demonstrating that people can act.
  2. Participants face harsh repression—interceptions at sea, arrests, beatings, solitary confinement and other abuses—but activists keep returning despite the real personal risks. Their persistence is meant to show solidarity with Palestinians and to sustain international attention.
  3. Many governments and international bodies have failed to halt the humanitarian crisis and often enable it, so organizers argue that sustained global pressure, direct action and solidarity are necessary to raise the political cost and eventually force change.