State-Supported Terrorism and the U.S. Courts: Some Foreign Policy Problems

Terrorism is an evil that the United States and other civilized countries should combat aggressively. Fortunately, these countries have many tools they can use in their fight against terrorism, among them military force (as we have just demonstrated in Afghanistan), covert actions, and a variety of economic sanctions against a country or group that supports terrorists. These sanctions - which would preferably be applied in union with other countries, though unilaterally if necessary - can include freezing assets, as well as ending or limiting U.S. government programs (ranging from landing rights to foreign aid), cutting off exports to or imports from the country supporting terrorists, denying it credit or investment funds, and working in the multilateral banks to block loans to the country

Looking for a Better Way: the Sanction Laws of Key U.S. Allies

When it comes to imposing economic sanctions for foreign policy purposes, the Chief Executives of the United Kingdom, West Germany, andJapan have broad authority to control their respective countries\u27 exports, imports, and private financial transactions. This authority differs from that of the U.S. President who, under present U.S. law, has wide discretion to cut off almost all exports, but has only limited control over imports and over foreign loans by private U.S. banks. This is in the absence of a declared national emergency, where the President has sweeping powers

International Economic Sanctions: Improving the Haphazard U.S. Legal Regime

The United States has resorted increasingly to economic sanctions as a major tool in its foreign policy. Recent targets include Panama, South Africa, Nicaragua, Libya, the Soviet Union, Poland, and Iran. These sanctions encompass controls on government programs (such as foreign aid), US. exports, imports, private financial transactions, and assistance by international financial institutions. In this Article, Professor Carter demonstrates that the present US. legal regime governing the use of sanctions for foreign policy reasons is haphazard and in need of reform. Current US. laws provide the President with nearly unfettered authority to cut off government programs and exports, but very little nonemergency authority in other areas, such as the regulation of imports and private financial transactions. This imbalance either skews presidential decisionmaking toward the use of easily imposed sanctions that might not be in the best interests of the United States, or encourages presidential declarations of dubious national emergencies to invoke his sweeping emergency powers. Professor Carter proposes thoroughgoing but selective reform of the present legal regime. He recommends correcting the disparity in the President\u27s nonemergency authority by substantially increasing the President\u27s authority over imports and private financial transactions, while reducing the control over exports. He also proposes trimming the President\u27s ability to employ emergency powers for imposing economic sanctions

Gateways, Corridors and Strategic City Pairs

Advances in transportation technology may mean that topography matters less, but trade routes will continue to favour the paths of least resistance. The location of gateway cities and distribution hubs exhibit patterns of hierarchical systems. A change in technology that alters location advantage heightens corridor competition and in the longer term, it may modify the relative positions of cities in the regional hierarchy. Changes in transportation technology during the 1850s and the 1950s that altered the barriers of time and space reordered trade corridors in these periods. As the 21st Century opens, the growing Asian economies are stimulating Pacific trade routes, and intermodal container shipping is causing a resurgence of railway opportunities for trade routes that are prepared to foster their development. This paper examines the concept of gateways and corridors, and the importance that strategic city pairs play in taking advantage of transportation opportunities. Its purpose is to encourage discussion on the topic of trade corridor competition. The first section presents a conceptual framework for examining trade corridors. Subsequently, two examples of strategic city pairs and corridor competition are considered. The paper concludes with some thoughts on the role of strategic city pairs in the promotion of the Mid-continent corridor.corridors; gateways; strategic partnership

Distributed Access View Integrated Database (DAVID) system

The Distributed Access View Integrated Database (DAVID) System, which was adopted by the Astrophysics Division for their Astrophysics Data System, is a solution to the system heterogeneity problem. The heterogeneous components of the Astrophysics problem is outlined. The Library and Library Consortium levels of the DAVID approach are described. The 'books' and 'kits' level is discussed. The Universal Object Typer Management System level is described. The relation of the DAVID project with the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program is explained

The International Linear Collider

In this article, we describe the key features of the recently completed technical design for the International Linear Collider (ILC), a 200-500 GeV linear electron-positron collider (expandable to 1 TeV) that is based on 1.3 GHz superconducting radio-frequency (SCRF) technology. The machine parameters and detector characteristics have been chosen to complement the Large Hadron Collider physics, including the discovery of the Higgs boson, and to further exploit this new particle physics energy frontier with a precision instrument. The linear collider design is the result of nearly twenty years of R&D, resulting in a mature conceptual design for the ILC project that reflects an international consensus. We summarize the physics goals and capability of the ILC, the enabling R&D and resulting accelerator design, as well as the concepts for two complementary detectors. The ILC is technically ready to be proposed and built as a next generation lepton collider, perhaps to be built in stages beginning as a Higgs factory.Comment: 41 page

Overview and Operation of U.S. Financial Sanctions, Including the Example of Iran

Financial sanctions are increasingly being used in the mix of international economic sanctions being employed by the United Nations, regional entities, and individual countries, including the United States. These financial sanctions have become more focused and effective as the tools and techniques have improved significantly for tracing and identifying the financial transactions of terrorists, weapons proliferators, human rights violators, drug cartels, and others. These sanctions can not only freeze financial assets and prohibit or limit financial transactions, but they also impede trade by making it difficult to pay for the export or import of goods and services. In spite of this growing impact of financial sanctions, these sanctions are not well understood outside of a small group of experts. This article provides an introduction to the mechanics and operation of U.S. financial sanctions, and it illustrates their use against Iran