“No One is Above the Law:” You Have to be Kidding
James O’Neill Reacting to the arrest and detention in British custody of Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that the arrest confirms “that...
Accountability for War Crimes – USA vs ICC
James O’Neill The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands. It began its jurisdictional life on 1 July 2002, the...
Douma “Chemical Attack”: Still Waiting for an Apology
As in so many of Australia’s military forays around the world, the legal basis for the Syria involvement is notably absent, although in this particular case their role was...
More than Cognitive Dissonance
James O’Neill The dilemmas in Canberra go beyond the respective roles of the American alliance and the China trade. They point to a failure to grasp historical reality and...
Reasons to be Cautious About US ‘Withdrawal’ from Afghanistan
James O’Neill The weeks before and since Christmas have seen and acceleration of efforts to achieve a peace settlement in Afghanistan. What is interesting is that the countries that...
Disbelief, Magic Realism and Doublethink Alive and Well in 2018
James O’Neill In the Lyrical Ballads, a collection of essays and poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the latter coined the phrase “the willing suspension of disbelief.”...
Faint Signs of Hope in Syria and Afghanistan
James O’Neill In March 2003 Iraq was invaded by military forces led by the United States, and including other military forces from a range of US allies, including Australia....
Australia and its Israel Embassy: What are they Thinking?
James O’Neill According to recent media reports, the Liberal candidate in the Wentworth (Sydney) by-election, former diplomat David Sharma said he “was open” to the idea that Australia’s embassy...
Caspian Sea Agreement Symptomatic of Wider Geopolitical Changes
James O’Neill On 12 August 2018 the five littoral states to the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) signed an historic agreement governing the use of the...
Second Salisbury Alleged Poisoning: Still More Questions than Answers
James O’Neill It is symptomatic of the level of desperation being felt by the British government that the illness of two known drug addicts (Rowley & Sturgess) in the...
Australia needs an urgent reappraisal of its place in a changing world
James O’Neill It seems likely that the Australian House and Senate will pass the governments legislative proposals, ostensibly aimed at alleged foreign interference in Australia’s electoral process. Despite denials...
The Skripal case & the perils of a rush to judgment
by James O’Neill amended to remove reference to the Spiez laboratory, which is not mentioned directly in the OPCW summary The perils of coming to premature conclusions before all...
The Rapidly Evolving Skripal Story: Evidence of the Destruction of an Anglo-American Plan
James O’Neill looks at the evolution and collapse of the official narrative about the alleged Skripal poisoning
Some Further Thoughts on the Skripal Affair
Barrister at Law James O’Neill offers some thoughts on the Skripal case and the recent judgement by Mr Justice Williams in the High Court Let the jury consider the...
Litvinenko and the Demise of British Justice
by James O’Neill February 11th, 2016 In the wake of the bizarre and troubling elisions and falsehoods already apparent in the Skripal case, it seems an opportune time to...
MH17: The Continuing Charade
by James O’Neill, from New Eastern Outlook The Sun Herald (Sydney) of 22 May 2016 reported that the Australian families of the MH17 disaster had “served” the European court...
