International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

I visited the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Wednesday (28 Nov). ITLOS was formed pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Law fo the Sea, which entered into force on 16 November 1994. The title of this tribunal makes it sound impressive, but in reality, it is really not. Since its formation the Tribunal has heard a mere 15 cases, and at one point went without any cases for two whole years.

All in all, a little underwhelmed by ITLOS. However, as with all UN agencies built upon multilateral agreement, ITLOS may just need some time to gather steam.

Oxford

Flew over to Oxford from Hamburg on the weekend. Flying with Ryanair is something that I hope I never have to do again. The flights appear attractively cheap. However, with the government taxes, baggage charges, having to pay for food on flight, and the cost of getting to and from the obscure airports that Ryanair uses, it turns out to be much more costly than you are led to believe. The airline tries to turn a dollar at every opportunity. The flight which they advertise as going from Hamburg to London actually goes from Lübeck to Stansted, which are completely different cities. A shameful misrepresentation. The dirty scoundrels also sell lottery tickets and other useless trinkets on board the plane. But perhaps I've got a little carried away.

Before catching the Oxford Tube from near Victoria station, I did a bus tour of London. I was in London in July with Macca, but the bus tour made me realise how many things I haven't seen. Madame Tussauds, Harrods, the Dungeons, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London Zoo and the list goes on.

I alighted from the bus on the Oxford High Street at around 7pm. I walked back down the High Street a few hundred metres and was greeted by Eric out the front of the Magdalen College Porters Lodge. After trying some of Eric's home made Lasagne, which was actually really good, we went to a college frat party which was affectionately dubbed 'the Liquid Lounge', a reference no doubt to the frosty beverages consumed there. I played ‘Tip Cup’. The aim of this drinking game is to skull and then flip your cup off the edge of the table so that it lands face down. Once you succeed, the next person does the same. You play in teams and the first team to finish wins.

Saturday morning (24 November '07) Aaron, Eric and I woke up early and went to watch the election. We went to Rhodes house to watch the results come through. There were about 100 Aussies watching the results on a big screen in the main hall of Rhodes House with green and gold streamers draped around the room and a big Ausralian flag hung at the back of the room. It was really surreal because I knew seven of the people there. David Townsend, Anthony Jones, Angela Cummine, Eric Knight, Aaron Rathmell, Oli Jones and Tash McCarthy. As AJ informed me, Oxford is really a finishing school for Sydney Uni students.

Rudd won a resounding victory. 83 out of 150 seats in the House of Reps and Maxine McKew forced Howard out of Bennelong. I am very pleased with the result, although cautiously optimistic. Hopefully the labour party doesn’t manage to destroy the country within the next 3 years. It was perhaps one of my most memorable experiences, being on the other side of the world, in the main hall of Rhodes House in Oxford, watching a turning point in Australian history unfold with so many other Australians.

After watching the end of the results, Maxine make a drunken fool of herself, Turnbull make a leadership speech, Howard thank his ‘cement’ (wife) and Rudd awkwardly refer to himself in the third person, it was time to see Oxford. We had a lunch at the Turf Tavern. A really nice little pub, previous patrons include the likes of Bob Hawk and Bill Clinton. Interestingly, there is a meadow on the grounds of Magdalen College, which is used as a deer park. However, while I was there the deer had been moved onto other college land because the river, I believe it is the River Cherwell, had just recently flooded.

That night I went with Eric to the black tie dinner and initiation ceremony for the Magdalen College Rowing Club. The dinner consisted of bruscetta, lasagne and chocolate cake. It was pretty reasonable, but at £20 it was quite expensive for what it was. During the dinner the rowing organises proceeded to give out a series of prizes and make in jokes that I don't think even Eric understood. Afterwards, we all went down to Addison’s walk, a tree lined pathway on the College grounds, and I was initiated into the College rowing club with all the rest. Initiation consisted of swapping clothes with someone from the opposite sex, having your legs taped together and a bottle of alcohol taped to your hand, then running along to certain check points where the alcohol was replenished. Ah, Oxford.

Lübeck and marzipan, let's blow this joint.

I went to Lübeck today, the old part of the town retains a quaint medieval appearance and is completely encircled by the Trave river. For several centuries it was the capital of the Hanseatic League, which was an alliance of trading guilds which maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea and parts of the North Sea. However, today it plays second or perhaps third fiddle to Hamburg.

Five of the other exchange students came with me (Mike Levin, Subra, Meghna, Yihong, and Alex Watkins). First stop was the Holstentor Museum. The Holstentor being a large four story Brick Gothic city gate, completed in 1478, and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The most interesting thing inside the museum is a detailed carved wooden map of the old city, amazing created by school children towards the beginning of the 20th century. We also visited the Lübeck Museum of Theatre Puppets. Not bad, as far as museums of theatre puppets go. I think TV and Hollywood finished this profession off. The Dom church is apparently very famous, but there are several churches on the little old city island and the one we saw wasn't much to write home about. I also saw the Rathaus (pronounced Rat House), aka Town Hall. It is very telling that the place where the local politicians meet is the Rathaus.

Lübeck is famous for marzipan, and we visited the famous Niederegger Café. According to local legend marzipan was first made in Lübeck. The story, which is probably bogus, is that the town ran out of all foods except stored almonds and sugar, and used these to make loaves of marzipan bread.

Interestingly, we randomly discussed the origin and meaning of the word 'blow' in the sentence 'Let's blow this joint'. In this context 'to blow' means to leave the place immediately or in a hurry. Apparently, the word has had this meaning since the 18th century. But where did it come from? Our theory is that the phrase "let's blow this joint" appears to derive from the phrase "this place blows". "This place blows" derives from the phrase "this place sucks" (if you can't see this link it's probably not my place to explain it). "This place sucks" in turn appears to derive from "this place is for suckers". Suckers being people who are easily cheated or deceived.

Climate Change Coalition

The Australian Federal election is in 10 days.

The traditional reaction, when someone finds out you support action to preserve the environment, is that you are (a) 'a leftie', (b) 'a greenie tree hugger', (c) 'a hippie', (d) 'anti-business', or (e) unAustralian.

While these are understandable emotional responses, they are not rational or well thought out. Climate change currently represents the single greatest market failure ever faced by humanity. That is very bad for business. I think Australia has the human capital necessary to adapt to the changes in the marketplace resulting from climate change. Since the need to deal with the issue is inevitable, the first countries to innovate will gain a first mover advantage in the global market for climate change solutions. In the longer term, failure to act will not mean a stronger economy but will mean foregone business opportunities.

There is a new political party in this years election called 'Climate Change Coalition'. Not only is Dr. Karl one of their candidates, but the party brings this important issue of Climate Change to the table.

Divali - Festival of Light

I went to the Indian consulate this morning to get an Indian visa for Jan/Feb when I will be there. I was surprised to discover that today is Divali. A polite note on the locked door of the consulate informed me of this. Seeing as I was prevented from getting the visa, I decided to look up Divali.

Diwali, Divali, or Deepawali is a major Indian holiday. It started as a harvest festival in ancient times, became associated with many legends and became a significant festival in Hinduism and all of the faiths that originated in India. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being.

The most popular legend associated with Divali today is the homecoming of King Rama of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile in the forest. The people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed Rama by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (deepa), thus its name, Deepawali, or simply shortened as Diwali, or Divali.

Something interesting had to come out of not being able to get my visa.

Climate change - what's the worst that could happen?

This is an amazing video.

If you are interested in the issue of climate change, if you are a climate change sceptic, if you are wanting that killer argument to explain the importance of the issue to all of your sceptic friends, or if you know nothing about the issue. This is a must watch video.

The simplicity of the argument, which uses basic strategic form game theory, makes it extremely compelling. This short clip makes the need to take action against climate change clear. More importantly, it unveils all the political debates and discussions for what they really are, unnecessary and dangerous time wasting.

Have a look and see what you reckon.

Berlin - awesome

For want of a better explanation, Berlin was awesome. On the Monday, we went on a tour to Potsdam, the capital of the Federal State of Brandenburg. As on any good tour, we saw two castles, Schloss Cecilienhof and Schloss Sanssouci, (Schloss meaning castle). Cecilienhof is a quite large palace, but has the quaint appearance of an English Tudor country lodge. Behind the castle is a grassy slope running down to a private lake. Interestingly, this relaxing country setting is the location of the historic Potsdam Conference. Held at the end of WWII, this was the conference where the Allied leaders (Truman and Churchill) met with Stalin to decide the future of Germany. Sanssouci is the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Built in the French Rococo style and set in a terraced garden, Sanssouci is much grander than Cecilienhof, but ever so slightly more tacky. The entrance of the palace leads into the most notable room, the Hall of Shells. The walls of this room are covered with fossils, shells and semiprecious stones. While being ridiculously tacky, the lighthearted feel of this room and the other whimsically decorated rooms are in keeping with Frederick’s desire to keep the palace as a place to escape the pomp of the Prussian court. Apparently, Sanssouci comes from the French term which loosely translates as "without cares", or in Australian "no worries".

On Tuesday, we did a bus and walking tour of Berlin. Berlin is a very interesting city, but I wasn’t a fan of the tour. The tour guide spent the better part of an hour telling us about a shopping mall that had been rebuilt after the war and the construction challenges that were faced, yawn. In the arvo, Kristin and I visited the Checkpoint Charlie museum, the Jewish museum, the Holocaust memorial and saw the place where Hitler’s bunker used to be. The Checkpoint Charlie museum was interesting, albeit overpriced. The museum related various anecdotes as to the ingenious methods that eastern Germans used to escape over the border into west Berlin. The Jewish museum was interesting, however it mainly consisted of Jewish artefacts of Jews who were killed by the Nazis and a vague insight into the Jewish culture in general. Certainly interesting, but I was hoping for more of an insight to the history surrounding the Nazi persecution. The Holocaust memorial consists of a large square filled with grey tomb-like stones. Apparently, the company that provided the graffiti proof material for the memorial is the same company that produced ‘Zyklon B’, the gas used to kill victims at Auschwitz. That’s what I call, getting in on both sides of the market.

On Wednesday, we visited the villa where the Wannsee Conference was held and also visited a Stasi (pronounced shtazi) Prison. The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior Nazi officials, held on 20 January 1942, to inform them of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”. It is scary to think that a small group of insane people can do so much damage to the world. As a general rule it is a good idea to keep power out of the hands of lunatics, “hello, America, are you listening?” In the afternoon, we visited the Stasi prison. One of the former inmates of the prison spoke to us about his experience being imprisoned there. This man was imprisoned for 7 years without trial, and spent 10 months in complete isolation in the underground prison that was affectionately dubbed the “U-boat”. He was involved in a student organisation and while he was visiting eastern Berlin to give financial assistance to some of the students there, he was arrested by the Stasi on suspicion of being a high level spy. He said that the complete isolation and “psychological torture” dished out by the prison guards, led to many inmates developing psychiatric conditions. This man had however survived unscathed. He gave three reasons for his ability to survive. 1. Mental exercise. While in isolation, he continually recited things he had learnt before and created hypothetical situations and solved mathematical and other problems. 2. Keeping perspective. Instead of focussing on what a bad situation he was in, he said that he always tried to “sit beside” himself, looking at his situation in the context of the broader machinations and problems of the time. 3. Artificial arrogance. He fostered a sense of “artificial arrogance” within himself. The prison guards would never use his name and would merely address him by stating “come”, “go” and “turn around”. He considered the guards as children, too silly and foolish to be able to really cause him concern.

On Thursday, we visited the Reichstag. The parliamentary building where the German parliament (the Bundestag) resides. The building is a place of significant historical significance. The building was built to house the original parliament of the German Empire opening in 1894. It mysteriously burnt down in 1933 (thanks Hitler), and the communists were blamed. It was only reopened as recently as 1999 to house the Parliament of united Germany. Anyway, being a group of law students from Germany's only private law school, we were lucky enough to have a talk from Hans-Ulrich Klose. He is the former mayor of the free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg and a current member of the Bundestag and Chairman of the German-American Parliamentary Group. This man is very impressive and hearing him speak was really interesting. Klose jokingly said that he thought Europeans should be allowed to vote in American elections because US policies directly effects Europe. When asked who he would vote for if he were allowed, Klose said that the American/European relations were currently at a low point (no doubt due in no small part to George Bushes arrogance and unilateralism) and that the election of the Democrates would be expected to improve relations. Klose said that if Hillary Clinton were elected this would spell three decades where two American families have controlled American politics. Seeing this as a dangerous outcome Klose said that he would support Obama. I was shocked that Klose was so frank about who he would support in the US election and I'm not so sure his position makes sense. It does not matter who controls government, so much as it matters that they are the best man for the job. As to whether Hillary is the best 'man' for the job is a whole other question...