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Dr Sherri Burr
International Relations 
in a Post 911 World

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Dr Sherri Burr

International Relations

Dr Sherri Burr / Professor of Law at UNM
United Nations

in a Post 911 World

Late in February, Dr Sherri Burr - professor of law at UNM - visited WNMU to speak on the topic "International Relations in a Post 911 World."

Having a 20 year tenure at UNM, Dr Burr's specialties include international law, intellectual property, and art & entertainment law - all of these having interesting relationships in a world dominated by free trade and an increasingly consolidated and irresponsible media being used to promote the US strategic and economic agenda worldwide.

Dr Burr's talk covered a range of background fundamentals and examples of how international law has been applied in the past and how Conduct of War rules have been almost totally ignored by the Bush administration.  With the Security Council as the final arbiter in the primary international body, the US has used its influence, veto, and ultimately its capacity for coercion by diplomatic, economic and, ultimately, military means to make impotent any attempt to hold them accountable before the United Nations.

Of course, the Bush administration has refused to sign on to the International Criminal Court.  This is not surprising considering that the entire administration would likely be indicted if it recognized and submitted to its authority.  Even this may not save criminals such as Donald Rumsfeld who would be well advised to avoid German and French soil and possible arrest.  The Nuremburg trials have laid a foundation for a sequence of legal decisions that have brought a growing list of heads of state to justice for their crimes against humanity - Chile's Augusto Pinochet being one of the most recent and visible but including Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia.

The talk concluded with Dr Burr inviting responses to the the questions of "Should Americans care about international law?" and "Can the United States exit from Iraq with dignity?"

Taking the last first, it's strongly reminiscent of the Nixon delusion of "Peace with Honor" which prompted Vermont Senator George Aiken to urge Nixon to "Declare Victory and Bring the Troops Home."  Bush could only manage half that with his infamous "Mission Accomplished" - a perverse stunt worthy of Wag the Dog.  

There is no dignity in launching a war of aggression - that which sent Nazis to the gallows at Nuremburg - and the resultant murder of nearly 1 million Iraqis, the destruction of their country and theft of their resources.  Should we care?  Perhaps not if we believe that those whom we butcher and torture will not devise means of retaliation equivalent to - or worse than - flying airplanes into the symbols of US imperial arrogance.

The introduction by Dr Jolane Culhane, WNMU professor of history, noted that such discussions have been a rarity at WNMU.  The Counts administration has recently been on a charm offensive to apparently convince themselves, realtors, and accreditation bodies that Silver City is a "college town."  To prove that claim, it has forged an alliance with the chamber of commerce and other business types to hand out flags with the WNMU "colors" to be displayed at any and every opportunity.  It's boosterism at its finest but has little to do with addressing the phantom presence of WNMU and its historical and continuing disinterest in contributing to an atmosphere that remotely resembles a "college town."

On the other hand, Dr Culhane, WNMU professor of history, board member of NM Endowment for the Humanities and organizer and sponsor of Dr Burr's talk, seems to have a much better idea of what is needed in the way of academic freedom, diversity and intellectual challenge to begin to create an atmosphere that chararcterizes a "college town."

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Click here for
Dr Sherri Burr / UNM
Click here for
Dr Jolane Culhane / WNMU
Click here for
UN Charter
Click here for
International Criminal Court 
at the Hague

Click here for
Former CIA Pakistan Station Chief on "Afghanistan - Graveyard of Empires"
Click here for
Aljazeera on 
Jail for Argentine Dirty War criminals

Articles on Rumsfeld Torture Suit / Indictment  in France & Germany

Click below for previous shows on WNMU