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Plus: Migrant resettlement, Tom Cotton op-ed scandal, oppressors-in-training, and more...

Several nations in South and Southeast Asia gained independence from British colonial control in 1947–48. Each has had its own trajectory since independence. In this post, Martin Smith reflects on Myanmar, and how her path was from the very beginning fraught with instability — leading to the current political centrifugality amidst martial 'democracy', and what hopes lie … Continued

The New Zealand Initiative’s Eric Crampton had a good column in Saturday’s Post making the case for land-value rating in Wellington. It was written with Eric’s customary clarity and, on the surface, makes a pretty persuasive case for change. I would normally provide a link but…….despite being a subscriber to the hard copy Post, the … Continue reading Land value rating for Wellington

Emily Behzadi (California Western School of Law) has posted National Security or National Origin? The Implications of Florida's Alien Land Law Under the Federal Fair Housing Act (South Carolina Law Review, Vol. 75, No. 2, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is...

The UK has a crucial role to play in the debate over how the EU should be reformed. This session engages in a conversation as to why and how.

The 2023 defence strategic review has as its centrepiece the concept Defence Minister Richard Marles has defined as 'impactful projection'. The goal is to defend Australia and its immediate region, and to 'deter through denial' ...

Robert H. Lande (University of Baltimore - School of Law) has posted Textualism as an Ally of Antitrust Enforcement: Examples from Merger and Monopolization Law (Utah Law Review, Vol. 2023, No. 4, 2023) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Advocates...

Is there anything more boring than land-use regulation? Not quite. As our guest today argues, these seemingly banal policies could be causing modern-day segregation.

In a new paper, Jessica Trounstine, chair of the political science department a the University of California Merced, makes a strong case for why land-use policies aren't as race-neutral as they seem, and why we need to pay more attention to them.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Iraq Monday for the first time since 2011, marking a potential thaw in relations between the two neighboring countries, which have long clashed over Turkish attacks on Kurdish groups in Iraq's north.
"For the first time, we find that there is a real desire on the part of each country to move toward solutions," Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani said during a recent event at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.
Sudani noted that the trip comes after more than a year of talks focused on addressing the biggest issues in the bilateral relationship. "For the first time, sensitive discussions are being held on every issue that represented barriers to the relationship," he said. "And we agreed on all of these topics after a series of meetings and bilateral trips."
The trip is a crucial part of the Sudani government's efforts to stabilize Iraq and move forward from years of internal strife and war — a campaign made more urgent in recent weeks by escalating tensions in the region, as Iran and Israel's shadow war has come out into the open.
Erdogan's visit comes as Sudani returns from a week-long trip to Washington, where the Iraqi leader pitched a "new chapter" in U.S.-Iraq relations that could include a withdrawal of American troops from the country, which have become targets for Iraqi militias since the Gaza war began last year. He also sought new economic agreements and encouraged U.S. businesses to invest in Iraq.
Back in Iraq, Sudani and Erdogan were set to discuss enhanced cooperation to counter Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), which Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist group. Turkey has for years mounted cross-border attacks on the PKK that have drawn backlash from the Iraqi government, citing sovereignty concerns.
In a notable shift, the two countries now say they are cooperating to fight the group. This will not, however, include joint military operations, according to Iraq's defense minister. Questions remain about whether Iraqi officials are prepared to join Erdogan in his pledge to "permanently" destroy the organization in an operation later this year.
On the economic side, Sudani hopes the visit will lead to new agreements on trade to augment Iraq's $17 billion "Development Road" project, which aims to increase Iraq's capacity to serve as a transit hub for goods traveling between Asia and Europe.
Another deal will likely address the two countries' shared water resources. Turkey controls the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which provide most of Iraq's freshwater, and Iraqi officials are hoping to persuade Turkish leaders to increase the amount of water that reaches their country.

From NOAA: Source: NOAA, accessed 1/14/2024. And Senator Ron Johnson's take on climate change.

While California struggles with a housing shortage, city and county zoning laws prevent residential development on large swathes of land within the state. One such restriction is Solano County's Orderly Growth Initiative, which generally prevents landowners from creating residential subdivisions on land zoned as agricultural.

Agriculture is the biggest sector we regulate in terms of individual businesses, with around 100,000 premises covering 70% of the land in England. Every year, the EA works together with farmers to bring the changes and improvements which will protect our future land and resources and secure better compliance with environmental regulations.

Skyscrapers under construction against the Manhattan skyline.

The Guardian (Miranda Bryant) reports: Finland plans to open more than 300 new shooting ranges to encourage more citizens to take up the hobby in the interest of national defence. It is hoped that shooting in the Nordic country—which last year became Nato's newest member and which shares a 830-mile (1,330km) border with Russia—could…

"The brave Justices who once sat on this Court decisively rejected those claims."