The Harvard Law Record

News
Opinion
Arts
Etc.

Noam Chomsky: Iran pursuing nuclear weapons out of fear

Even the most radical conservative can agree with Noam Chomsky on at least one thing. “No one in their right mind wants Iran to develop nuclear weapons.” But to Chomsky, nonproliferation requires reciprocal action, rather than international condemnation. Chomsky's reputation as a prolific author of books on subjects including linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, political science, and media might lead one to believe that his views stem from esoteric theoretical arguments, but Chomsky takes a pragmatic view of international relations. His conclusion is that Iran is developing nuclear weapons out of a rational fear for its national safety because of the systematically threatening posture of the United States and Israel. Full story

Green light for an internet red light district?

It is not as if there weren’t enough pornography on the web. Exact figures are difficult to come by, but estimates of the number of websites dedicated to pornographic material range from 1 to 25 percent. And soon there will be more. In fact, a whole Top Level Domain or TLD (the letters after the last dot in an address, such as .com or .biz) will soon be dedicated to “adult entertainment”: the new TLD dot triple x, or “.xxx”. Full story

More than "Paradise Lost" in A.R.T.'s Depression drama

Unfortunately for theater goers attending the A.R.T.'s latest production, Clifford Odets does not appear to have taken this wisdom from Milton when writing his own Paradise Lost. The heavy-handedness of his writing flattens characters who are struggling through the challenges of the Great Depression and have no need of metaphor and abstraction. And while the A.R.T. has attempted to bring the drama to life with quasi-existentialism and innovative visual techniques, the story is deprived of true significance by its suffocatingly hollow dialogue. Full story

Bob Mnookin deals with the devil

You’ve just discovered that this company has violated your contract by secretly creating a knock-off of the design you licensed to them—and selling it in the Chinese market! They deny wrongdoing, and they also want to renegotiate your original contract. You are so angry you can hardly think straight. But what should you do? Should you bargain with this devil? This question, which arises in so many situations, is central to Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight, a new book by Professor Robert H. Mnookin ’68, Chair of the Program on Negotiation. Full story

DRONE WARS

Top Story

Experts ponder implications of remote, robotic warfare

They are watching you. Thousands of feet above, circling endlessly with cameras that record your every move. They are quiet, they are deadly, and you cannot stop them. They are Predators, drones sent into areas where the U.S. Army needs surveillance, where the Air Force needs to execute precision strikes, and where the CIA seeks to conduct covert operations. Full story

Harvard Law Record, V. 130 No. 5, March 11, 2010