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Sanctions, Countermeasures, And The Iranian Nuclear Issue, N. J. Calamita

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The international community's response to Iran's nuclear development program highlights the sometimes complex legal relationship between the UN system of collective security and the rights of states to take unilateral countermeasures under the law of state responsibility. It also raises a number of important questions about (a) the discretion afforded to states in the interpretation and implementation of Security Council resolutions, (b) the availability of countermeasures for the violation of multilateral obligations, and (c) the exclusivity of the Chapter VII framework for collective security.

This Article argues that, while the Security Council's Iran sanctions resolutions do not grant discretionary authority …

Securing The Strength Of The Renewed Npt: China, The Linchpin "Middle Kingdom", Gary J. Meise

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The consensus indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1995 and the more recent conclusion of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. which was supported by all five of the world's declared nuclear weapons states, allow for unprecedented optimism by nonproliferation experts regarding nuclear weapons proliferation curtailment and weapons reduction. These recent inroads into the accomplishment of NPT goals raise new questions. however. regarding the underlying commitment level of nuclear powers. China's proliferation record, in particular. is marred with inconsistencies, but its current economic growth and increasingly nonisolationist policies may cause China to reconsider its past noncompliance with the …