World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The US formally annexed Hawaii by an Act of Congress in 1893.  Prior to that point it was known as the Kingdom of Hawaii.  There is currently a move in Hawaii to recognize formally the rights of native Hawaiians within the framework of Hawaiian statehood in the US.  The move is different from Federal recognition of Native American nations on the North American continent–those nations were formally incorporated into the Federal government as “domestic dependent nations.”  But the status of Native Hawaiians has never been legally determined and there is some question about whether the Congressional annexation makes any sense in an international law framework.  By most legal precedents, Hawaii should be considered “occupied territory” for those who never accepted the rule of the US government.  The debate is a contemporary example of the difference between nation and state.

A new report indicates that the US attack on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan which was run by Doctors Without Borders on 3 October of this year was, at best, a brutal example of extraordinary incompetence and, at worst, a fairly clear-cut war crime.  I have been waiting for more information about the attack, and this latest report does not answer all the questions about the attack, but sheds enough light to indicate that the US is morally culpable for the incident.  I will continue to wait for the US government report before I reach a conclusion, but these preliminary results are quite discouraging.

President Pierre Nkurunziza remains in office after his election in a disputed third term in office (the constitution only allows two terms).  The country has been very tense since that disputed election and Nkurunziza amplified the tension by passing a edict requiring all citizens to hand over any guns in their possession.  Analysts fear that violence will explode in the country as the deadline for the handovers of 7 November nears.  Burundi has long experienced violent instability and a new flare-up will return the country to that depressing path.