Richard A. Falk Quotes - Page 2

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• Cumulatively, American society is sliding toward a new form of 'authoritarian democracy'. Elections continue, free speech is generally protected, institutions operate in accordance with the Constitution, but the reality of state - society relations is dramatically altered by the counter-terrorist claims of emergency rule and the right of exception.

  Richard A. Falk

  Reality, Democracy, Speech

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  4 Copy quote

• Both Israel and the United States have mounted attacks on 'lawfare', that is, counter-hegemonic uses of international law to question policies associated with the occupation of Palestine and criminal tactics of warfare.

  Richard A. Falk

  Law, Israel, Use

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• Trump's election is generally bad news.... In international policy, one can imagine that if Trump were foolish enough to go ahead with his pledge to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, it would be widely experienced throughout the Islamic world as a provocation.

  Richard A. Falk

  Moving, Islamic, Would Be

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• Already there exists a growing international concern that Israel has become "an apartheid state" pursuing policies manifesting a "settler colonial" mentality. Such perceptions pose a challenge to postcolonial international society that will not be indefinitely ignored, especially if Palestinians achieve greater unity and tactical focus.

  Richard A. Falk

  Israel, Focus, Challenges

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• The Goldstone Report establishes the credibility of the accusations directed at Israel with respect to its tactics used during the 2008 - 09 attacks on Gaza, but was not able to facilitate the next step that would have involved activating accountability mechanisms either within Israel or at the level of international society.

  Richard A. Falk

  Israel, Accountability, Levels

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• The fact that Universal Jurisdiction exists in relation to serious international crimes does convey two important aspects of the global reality: first, that such individuals would be held accountable if international law was applied without regard to geopolitics, and second, that there is enough ambiguity about the reach of UJ that it inhibits such individuals and conveys an impression of de facto criminality.

  Richard A. Falk

  Reality, Law, Two

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• This issue of expanding the reach of international criminal law by reliance on the use of Universal Jurisdiction by domestic courts needs to be balanced against the injustice of according impunity to those with strong geopolitical backing. It is notable that several western European countries backtracked on UJ after threats of retaliatory moves by the United States and Israel. There is no doubt that the domain of UJ is a geopolitical battleground.

  Richard A. Falk

  Country, Strong, Moving

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  4 Copy quote

• Looked at objectively, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of civilian deaths resulting from political violence are produced by what should be understood as "state terror." Terrorism also serves as an excuse to avoid diplomacy and the peaceful resolution of conflict.

  Richard A. Falk

  Political, Peaceful, Majority

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• To achieve effectiveness and legitimacy it is time to scrap the right of veto given to permanent members of the UN, or at least severely restrict its use. It is also time to either abandon the idea of permanent membership or broaden it to reflect the rise of non-Western states to the status of global leaders (e.g. Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa), and to downgrade European representation by either giving the European Union a single seat or rotating a European state among Germany, France, UK, and Italy.

  Richard A. Falk

  Turkeys, Ideas, Effectiveness

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  4 Copy quote

• What both the state and the capitalist economy oppose is an understanding of what might be called "the true nature of things" (using the phrase without metaphysical pretensions), especially injustices and exploitative practices.

  Richard A. Falk

  Capitalist Economy, Practice, Understanding

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• More recently the US has more accurately been viewed as a militarist 'empire' that fights destructive wars and intervenes in a variety of societies, especially in the Middle East to retain control over oil reserves, and lends crucial support to Israel that not only oppresses the Palestinian people but threatens to convert the entire region into a war zone.

  Richard A. Falk

  War, Fighting, Oil

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  5 Copy quote

• International law in its counter-hegemonic uses is very important in any domain where issues of legitimacy are significant, but is rarely able to have a corresponding behavioural impact.

  Richard A. Falk

  Issues, Impact, Law

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• Our sense of the free market is variable, shifting from a more welfare-oriented model after the Great Depression to a capital-driven market after the collapse of socialism as a viable alternative.

  Richard A. Falk

  Alternatives, Variables, Shifting

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• My own sense is that if David Friedman chooses to live in Jerusalem, and quietly conduct diplomatic business from the now existing US consulate in the city, it will not be noticed very much. It will not be treated as a rupture with the past unless it is accompanied by other American encouragements of Israeli extremism undertaken with the clear backing of the White House.

  Richard A. Falk

  Encouragement, Past, Cities

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• It is possible that, in fact, Trump's call for "America First" (despite evoking unpleasant recollections that such a phrase was the invention of those in the 1930s harboring fascist sympathies) and a positive relationship with Russia, might lead [to] a more relaxed global setting.

  Richard A. Falk

  Russia, America, Phrases

  Source: www.truth-out.org

  5 Copy quote

• I am quite confident that there are numerous discussions going in various "deep states" throughout the world about how to contain Trump's America geopolitically and economically, given the early indications that his policies will intensify conflict in many parts of the world.

  Richard A. Falk

  America, World, Conflict

  Source: www.truth-out.org

  4 Copy quote

• In light of Trump's irresponsible behavior, even Putin may decide that it was time to recalculate Russian interests. This could happen quite quickly if Trump goes ahead and wrecks one of the few potentially stabilizing developments in the Middle East during the last several years. Similarly, if Israel joins NATO, this might be more than Putin is willing to swallow.

  Richard A. Falk

  Light, Israel, Years

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• It should be appreciated that if the arrangement on Iran's nuclear program collapses after being so patiently negotiated, and successfully implemented since 2014 despite the intense opposition of Netanyahu's Israel and its American loyalists in Congress, it would be widely perceived around the world as a huge setback in the search for regional stability and the struggle to prevent any further spread of nuclear weapons.

  Richard A. Falk

  Struggle, Israel, Iran

  Source: www.truth-out.org

  6 Copy quote

• The deliberate weakening of the labour movement by the machinations of market fundamentalists, gaining momentum during the periods when Margaret Thatcher led the United Kingdom and Ronald Reagan governed in the United States, contributed to the decline of human rights.

  Richard A. Falk

  Rights, Labour Movement, Kingdoms

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• Post-1989 capitalism was far more unfriendly to economic and social rights than was the prior capitalism seeking to win public approval as a more compassionate economic arrangement than that which prevailed in state socialist economies.

  Richard A. Falk

  Winning, Socialist Economy, Rights

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• As matters now stand, the combination of genocide, as conventionally understood, and crimes against humanity, seems sufficient to cover the criminality of political leaders, and the lethal consequences of totalising ideologies.

  Richard A. Falk

  Political, Leader, Humanity

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• With Islamophobic tendencies in Europe and North America it is quite possible that Islamic leaders could be charged with 'political genocide'. An extremist American pastor in a small Florida church held a trial that convicted the Koran of encouraging the murder of non-Muslims and of being responsible for the 9/11 attacks. It is this sort of outlook that would be encouraged to claim that Islam embodied 'political genocide', a development that would have many negative effects on inter-civilisational relations within and among countries.

  Richard A. Falk

  Country, Islamic, Europe

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  4 Copy quote

• It was a step forward to charge Pinochet with terrorism, and to acknowledge that the essence of the crime is the use of political violence to induce great fear in society and against those who are innocent, and not just such violence that is directed against the state by opposition groups.

  Richard A. Falk

  Essence, Political, Violence

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  4 Copy quote

• It would not be desirable to include 'terrorism' among international crimes subject to International Criminal Court jurisdiction if defined to apply only to anti-state acts of violence. The failure to include terrorism as a distinct crime was due to the inability to agree upon its proper definition.

  Richard A. Falk

  Agree Upon, Definitions, Violence

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• The systemic incompatibility between free-market capitalism and the quality of democratic life and respect for human rights has to be modified to take account of such contextual variables as wartime, security threats, and the societal balance between entrepreneurial and working classes.

  Richard A. Falk

  Class, Rights, Quality

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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