Space law program reaps lessons from House Atreides

Luca Galuzzi via The Wildcat Tribune, Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon, Cal. CC BY-SA 2.5

My friend and colleague Tracy Reynolds, Staff Judge Advocate to U.S. Naval Medical Forces Atlantic, will lead a fascinating Dune II-contemporaneous panel next week.

Zoom registration is open and free for Friday, March 29, at 12 noon US EDT.

International Humanitarian Law in Space:
Lessons Learned from the Fall of House Atreides

What can we learn about resource scarcity, insider threats, and over-reliance on technology from Frank Herbert's novel Dune and its recent film adaptation? How may these lessons be applied in outer space, on the Moon, or on Mars? Join the American Red Cross IHL Program as our panel of distinguished legal experts examine a wide range of issues, from great power competition on Arrakis to the conduct of hostilities between the Atreides, Harkonnen, and Fremen.

The panel comprises:

• CDR Tracy Reynolds, United States Navy JAG Corps
• David Kohnen, the Captain Tracy Barrett Kittredge Scholar of War Studies and Maritime History at the US Naval War College
• Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Co-Director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law and its Center for Air and Space Law
• Thomas Harper, Senior Counsel, International Humanitarian Law, American Red Cross National Headquarters
• Namrata Goswami, author of Scramble for the Skies The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space

The program is sponsored by the American Red Cross and supported by the Space Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law.

Chinese aid in foreign development, Taiwan's dwindling number of allies warrant Western concern

Honduras severed ties with Taiwan and doubled down on ties with China just days before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met in California with the president of Taiwan.

The severing of diplomatic relations between Honduras and Taiwan is an important sign for global security, well beyond the bilateral significance. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has been executing a methodical campaign to isolate Taiwan from the world, a potential preliminary step to an assertion of control that would test the U.S. pledge to defend the disputed territory.

Chinese development policy is a fascinating subject; I take it up each year in one hour with my Comparative Law class.  Evidence abounds to support disparate theories on what the PRC means to achieve with its foreign aid packages. From well meaning humanitarian goals to Machiavellian world domination: it's anybody's guess what's being said in the highest levels of Beijing briefings. I'll paste below the reading list my class used this year to get a handle on this wide-ranging sub-subject. The discussion always is the best of the course.

Around the world, I have seen the vast reach of renminbi. The infrastructure projects alone are simply stunning. Chinese flags boast of telecommunication investment in distant and dusty towns in West Africa and South America. Bridges soar in Croatia and Montenegro; dams in Thailand and Sudan. Glassy government buildings adorn capitals such as Windhoek and Harare. And then there are the ports, from Togo to Sri Lanka to Peru. That's just a sampling of what I've seen with my own eyes.

A Dutch friend working in the aid sector in the Middle East was puzzled when I first asked for his appraisal of Chinese objectives. It's obvious, he opined. They just don't say it.

He and I were in the remote Indian Ocean island nation of the Maldives in March, where I witnessed Chinese-funded projects: a shining national museum, a bridge connecting the capital to the airport island across open ocean, and a massive new airport under construction. 

The Sinamalé Bridge, or China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, links capital Malé to Hulhulé Island.
RJ Peltz-Steele CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Velana International Airport at left; the new Maldives airport under construction at right.
RJ Peltz-Steele CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The Maldives National Museum, Malé, opened in 2010.
RJ Peltz-Steele CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The list of countries that have severed ties with Taiwan upon PRC quid pro quo has grown so long that it's difficult to track, and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are well represented. I was in Paraguay last year not long after it asked Taiwan for $1bn to remain friends. Typically of countries in the mix, Paraguay is trying to play both sides for the best deal, which, in the end, probably means just using Taiwan as leverage to get the best deal from the PRC. Heritage reported in late February that Paraguay was one of only 14 remaining countries, then, still maintaining ties with Taiwan. 

Last week, Honduras renounced that club. NPR contextualized the move:

Honduras had asked Taiwan for billions of dollars of aid and compared its proposals with China's, Wu said. About two weeks ago, the Honduran government sought $2.45 billion from Taiwan to build a hospital and a dam, and to write off debts, he added....

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said her government would not "engage in a meaningless contest of dollar diplomacy with China." ....

For decades China has funneled billions of dollars into investment and infrastructure projects across Latin America. That investment has translated to rising power for China and a growing number of allies.

In Honduras, it has come in the form of construction of a hydroelectric dam project in central Honduras built by the Chinese company SINOHYDRO with about $300 million in Chinese government financing.

Honduras is the ninth diplomatic ally that Taipei has lost to Beijing since the pro-independence Tsai first took office in May 2016.

Taiwan still has ties with Belize, Paraguay and Guatemala in Latin America, and Vatican City. Most of its remaining partners are island nations in the Caribbean and South Pacific, along with Eswatini in southern Africa.

As Reuters put it in a headline yesterday, "US, Taiwan seen powerless to stem island's diplomatic losses in Latin America."

When Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met with McCarthy in California, she was on her way back from visiting Belize and Guatemala. Media reports tended to spin the meeting as a show of tough-on-China Republican policy. I rather assumed the view I heard from one commentator, that meeting in California was a way not to meet in Taiwan, thus, not to poke the dragon as Nancy Pelosi did.

Schooled on 1970s détente, I'm not much of an American imperialist, and these days, I'm not much of an American exceptionalist. But I do worry that we will one day wake up to find ourselves a quirky outpost of remnant democracy in a world of purported harmony under authoritarian paternity.

Here's your Comparative Law homework for two hours on law and development, including a discussion of the PRC.

Historical and theoretical:

• John Henry Merryman, Comparative Law and Social Change: On the Origins, Style, Decline & Revival of the Law and Development Movement, 25 Am. J. Comp. L. 457 (1977).

• Jedidiah Kroncke, Law and Development as Anti-Comparative Law, 45 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 477 (2012).

Policy:

• Nic Cheeseman, Why There's a Case for Giving Foreign Aid to Authoritarian Regimes, The Conversation (Jan. 14, 2019).

Cheeseman here summarizes his remarks at a University of Birmingham debate in 2019. The whole debate is on video on YouTube, so you can watch it if you like (cued to Cheeseman, who spoke first).

PRC:

• Stephen Paduano, China's Investments in Rwanda Raise Familiar Questions About Debt, The Atlantic (Aug. 3, 2019)Deborah Brautigam & Meg Rithmire, The Chinese "Debt Trap" Is a Myth, The Atlantic (Feb. 6, 2021).

• Keith Bradsher, In Global Slowdown, China Holds Sway Over Countries' Fates, N.Y. Times, (Oct. 7, 2022).James McBride, Noah Berman, & Andrew Chatzky, China's Massive Belt and Road Initiative, Council on Foreign Relations (last updated Feb. 2, 2023).

If you'd like to dig into the numbers of Chinese development aid, have a look at the Global China Initiative at Boston University, especially its recent (Jan. 2023) policy brief.

The older BRI exists alongside more recent, if less extravagant, Chinese policies in the Global Security Initiative (GSI) and the Global Development Initiative (GDI).  The GSI and GDI raise analogous questions. If you would like comparable overviews, I recommend Michael Schuman for The Atlantic (July 13, 2022) on the GSI; Joseph Lemoine and Yomna Gaafar for New Atlanticist (Aug. 18, 2022) on the GDI (pro-Western perspective); and Professor Amitrajeet A. Batabyal for The Conversation (Aug. 4, 2022) on the GDI.

If you would like to learn more about the Chinese debt cancellations in Africa mentioned in the N.Y. Times article, there's a good and fairly even-handed article from Voice of America News (Aug. 25, 2022). One thing I have not given you here is any of the abundant statements from Chinese authorities and state-sponsored media defending Chinese policy; you can find them readily online yourself if you wish to get a flavor.

Conclusion:

Engage with this compelling perspective piece authored by a Harvard law student in 2018. Attorney Sabrina Singh is now an associate in the ESG group at Latham & Watkins in New York City.

• Sabrina Singh, Development Versus Anti-Development: Your Choice Matters, Harv. L. & Int'l Dev. Soc'y (May. 13, 2018).
  

A thanks to my Dutch friend (whom I'm not naming for security) for joining the class from the Middle East via Teams to discuss the delivery of humanitarian aid in conflict zones.

Ways to give: Ukraine National Bank sets up links for donations to armed forces, humanitarian relief

National Bank of Ukraine (NBU photo CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Many folks have been asking how or where to make donations in support of Ukraine, and I have had the same questions.

I posted earlier a link to a list published by ABC News.  A friend in the D.C. area (HT @ Leah) shared the following three items, which represent the most comprehensive array of possibilities I have seen.  The first two items come from a listserv of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School community in Maryland, near D.C.; the latter comes from an American NGO. 

In addition, a family member (HT @ Jack) sent a link to the Knights of Columbus Ukraine Solidarity Fund, which promises that 100% of gifts will supply displaced people, and that the Knights will match the first half million dollars contributed.

I preface the following items by saying that none of these lists is exhaustive, and there are organizations working on the ground that also could use support, but to which it is difficult to donate because the only way to do so is a costly wire transfer.  There are persons organizing group gifts to mitigate the cost of wire transfer, so such possibilities exist.  But, of course, be wary of scams; choose a non-traditional giving channel only with high confidence that it's legit and ideally a personal connection to verify the legitimacy.

This first item seems to me the most direct way to give, short of an organized wire transfer.  I'm leaving in the full-text links so that you can see their ".gov.ua" bona fides.

The National Bank of Ukraine has set up two accounts to which people can donate.  One is to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one is for Humanitarian Assistance to Ukrainians affected by Russia's aggression.
 
Both are very simple to donate to.  The links are:

[Armed Forces] https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-spetsrahunok-dlya-zboru-koshtiv-na-potrebi-armiyi
 
[Humanitarian Assistance] https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-rahunok-dlya-gumanitarnoyi-dopomogi-ukrayintsyam-postrajdalim-vid-rosiyskoy

Here is the second item, a list of organizations.  There is a lot of overlap here with the ABC News list, which Razom topped.  And the Kyiv Independent I wrote about here on Feb. 25.

• The International Medical Corps, is on the front lines helping with emergency health care services.  You can donate at Ukraine | International Medical Corps.
• You can donate to the International Rescue Committee to support families affected by the Ukraine crisis.
• Chef José Andrés feeds Ukrainian refugees at the border | WTOP News. José Andrés, D.C. chef famous for feeding people in need around the world, is already in Poland with his World Central Kitchen team helping provide “thousands of meals in Poland, Romania and even inside Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter. Anyone who wishes to donate to the efforts can go here.
• The Ukrainian Red Cross is helping with humanitarian aid, including aiding refugees and training doctors.  You can donate at UKRAINE CRISIS | International Committee of the Red Cross (icrc.org).
• Journalists with the Kyiv Independent and Kyiv Post have done extraordinary work covering the war, offering the world constant updates as they fear for themselves, their families and their homes. The Independent has started a GoFundMe asking for support, and the Kyiv Post offers subscriptions for $45 a year.
• Voices of Children, a charitable foundation based in Ukraine, has been serving the psychological needs of children affected by the war in the country’s east since 2015, according to its website. The group’s psychologists specialize in art therapy and provide general psychosocial support with group classes or individual sessions. Many of its psychologists are based in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, areas that have long been controlled by Russian-backed separatists and that are on the front lines of the current, wider conflict. Now, Voices of Children is providing assistance to children and families all over Ukraine, even helping with evacuations. You can donate here.
• Razom for Ukraine was founded in 2014 and has since launched efforts to build a stronger democracy in the country. Now, according to its website, the nonprofit is “focused on purchasing medical supplies for critical situations like blood loss and other tactical medicine items. We have a large procurement team of volunteers that tracks down and purchases supplies and a logistics team that then gets them to Ukraine.” Razom—which means “together” in Ukrainian—posted a list of the lifesaving supplies it has already purchased and is asking for more support here.

Most large international aid organizations, including UNICEF, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee, are currently working in Ukraine and neighboring countries, where a growing number of displaced people are fleeing.

Additional organizations helping in Ukraine and highly regarded (getting Charity Navigator’s top rating (4 stars)) are: Direct Relief, GlobalGiving, and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

The third item is labeled as coming from Foreign Policy for America.  Again, there is overlap.

GlobalGiving Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. Your donation to this fund will support affected communities in Ukraine, with a focus on the most vulnerable, including children, who need access to food, medical services, and psychosocial support. Donate here.

CARE Ukraine Crisis Fund. Your emergency gift supports CARE’s Ukraine Crisis Fund to reach 4 million with immediate aid and recovery, food, water, hygiene kits, psychosocial support, and cash assistance — prioritizing women and girls, families, and the elderly. Donate here.

United Help Ukraine. This US-based organization focuses on raising awareness around the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and is raising funds to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians. Donate here.

Support Hospitals in Ukraine. Your donation will support Ukrainian hospitals with much needed modern medical equipment and supplies shipped from the United States. Hospitals in Ukraine are under immense strain that will likely continue for a long time regardless of when the conflict ends. Doctors have been doing a heroic job but are in dire need of more trauma-related equipment and surgical tools. Donate here.

Nova Ukraine. The Ukraine-based organization is dedicated to raising awareness about Ukraine in the US and throughout the world and providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable groups and individuals in Ukraine, ranging from medical equipment for wounded soldiers to dresses and suits for graduation days in orphanages in Ukraine. Donate here.

Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. This non-partisan US-based organization supporting the Ukrainian community is accepting donations for humanitarian aid. Their website includes additional resources for how we can support Ukrainians beyond financial assistance. Donate and learn more here.

ChildFund. ChildFund’s German sister organization, ChildFund Deutschland, has worked in Ukraine for many years and is acting quickly to provide emergency aid to kids and their families. Your support will help deliver relief and keep children safe as the crisis unfolds. Donate here.

Project HOPE. As conflict intensifies inside Ukraine, Project HOPE is on the ground responding to this crisis and is actively shipping medicines and medical supplies to assist Ukrainians. Donate here.

World Food Program USA. WFP launched an emergency operation to provide food assistance for people fleeing the conflict and is on standby to assist refugees, as requested. Their teams are also on the ground in Kyiv and in a number of the neighboring countries, leading the emergency telecommunications and logistics clusters on behalf of the United Nations. Donate here.

Support Ukrainian Journalism. Numerous Ukrainian journalists continue to provide on-the-ground reporting from Ukraine despite the risks. The Kyiv Independent can be supported here. An additional fund has been set up by a consortium of media organizations to support other Ukrainian journalists currently covering this crisis. You can support the consortium here.

I know there are several other ways to support Ukraine, but I cannot list all of them here. If you have questions about another fund or organization, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. For anyone who is considering volunteering in Ukraine, please consider this advice from USAID and review the resources they provide.

Prayers for Ukraine.