Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Sarkozy Versus The Pirates (Arrr!)



International Law, and, in particular, The Law of the Sea, is a good thing. It is the logical answer to this present period of global pandaemonium based on post-Cold War tribalism and blood politics. Blood politics is the political fundament, the refuge of the intellectual midgets -- the Pat Buchanan's of the world -- who are temperamentally incapable of thinking globally. Neoconniving Vulcans -- and Jacksonians -- call International Law naive and inveigh against it with all their hideous Will. And since those two combined political forces are not yet entirely spent, we do not anticipate a period where International Law is ascendant on the world's stage in the next, oh, 20 years or so at least The Corsair, in the intervening Age, sips a 1787 Chateau Lafite).

That doesn't mean that serious thinkers and world leaders can't, on occasion, make waves by bringing up the subject of International Law. It's inherent rightness invariably gains traction every time it is braught up. From Foreign Policy Blog:

"With the forceful gallantry of a modern-day Errol Flynn, French President, Nicolas Sarkozy sent in a unit of French troops to rescue two French natives captured by pirates while vacationing on their yacht earlier this month. This is the second such rescue operation France has initiated in the last five months.

"Even more rousing than Sarkozy's heroic flair was his loud call for a crackdown on global piracy."


May we all live to see the inevitability of the Next Age of International Law.

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