SUPREME COURT

SHOWING ‘DUE

REGARD’

If the U.S. characterization of the facts is correct, then Russia did indeed violate international law by interfering with the U.S. drone.

Under Article 87 of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Seas, the high seas – basically, waters that are not any country’s territorial sea or exclusive economic zone – are open to all states. And the right of a country to operate on the high seas includes the freedom of overflight. The convention also states that the freedoms “shall be exercised by all states with due regard for the interests of other states in their exercise of the freedom of the high seas.”

The United States is not a party to the convention, which was signed in 1982 and currently has 168 parties, including Russia. Nevertheless, the U.S. recognizes many of its provisions as customary law; indeed, a key U.S. naval handbook recognizes that “the aircraft of all states are free to operate in international airspace without interference by other states.”

As such, Russia violated international law when it failed to act with “due regard” for the U.S. right to engage in freedom of overflight. In fact, based on the U.S. account, Russia directly interfered with that right. And it is presumably on this basis

Role of governors in BJP-ruled states has come in for some sharp criticism in recent years for what the Opposition claims is unhealthy for democracy. Governors of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Telangana have all been in the news for clashing with elected governments over issues of gubernatorial powers as laid down in the Constitution of India.

Governors and elected governments have been at loggerheads over appointment of vice-chancellors, deviation from the text of speech provided by a government, differences over calling for floor test and summoning of a session. Sitting over bills passed by the legislature for months is another conten-

According to the US version of events, the unarmed MQ-9 surveillance drone was flying in international airspace when two Russian fighter jets dumped fuel on the drone before colliding with it in violation of international law that the State Department spokesman called the drone’s downing a “brazen violation of international law.”

Aircraft In Conflict Zones

Russia appears to be taking the position that it was entitled to set up boundaries for its “special military operation” in Ukraine and that the United States disregarded those boundaries. Russia may be referring here to a “maritime exclusion zone” that Russia set up in February 2022 to prohibit navigation in the northwest portion of the Black Sea.

In general, the United States considers such zones to be lawful if their purpose is to direct neutral ships and aircraft away from conflict areas – they can play an important role in reducing the risk that such vessels are

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court is at present hearing a petition against the former Maharashtra governor BS Koshyari for ordering floor test after Eknath Shinde led a revolt to cause the downfall of Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government tious issue between governors and governments in some states. Telangana’s petition against the state governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for delaying her assent to bills is scheduled to come up in Supreme Court next week.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court is at present hearing a petition against the former Maharashtra gover- mistakenly attacked. The United States itself established a “maritime safety zone” in Mediterranean Sea in 2003 in connection with its invasion of Iraq.

However, neutral ships and aircraft do not become lawful targets merely because they enter such zones. Russia would only have had a reasonable claim to use force against, or interfere with, the U.S. drone if it posed an imminent threat of an armed attack or was otherwise a legitimate military target during an armed conflict.

ON SOLID GROUND IN THE SKIES

Assuming the U.S. account is correct, it would not be the first time that a country has interfered with a U.S. surveillance aircraft in an unsafe manner and effectively downed it.

In 2001, a Chinese fighter jet bumped into a U.S. signals intelligence aircraft that was operating 70 miles from China’s Hainan Island. The U.S. aircraft was damaged in a way that forced it to make an emergency landing on Hainan, while the Chinese fighter jet itself crashed. At the time, US asserted that int’nal law, including “due regard” principle, permitted US to conduct surveillance flights in China’s exclusive economic zone, which US considered to be international airspace.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION nor BS Koshyari for ordering floor test after Eknath Shinde led a revolt to cause the downfall of Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

The bench asked some probing questions on the governor’s role and made significant observations. Asking for the material on the basis of which Koshyari called for a trust vote, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that members of a legislature party losing confidence in a leader is an internal party affair. A Governor should not precipitate the fall of a government.

Uddhav Thackeray, besides chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states, would be keenly awaiting the court’s verdict. Telangana’s petition too would also settle a dispute which affects a government’s functioning.

Economists, social scientists and sages of yore have always differed over what constitutes happiness and if money can buy happiness. As the story goes, for a sage by the roadside happiness was about the sun’s warmth which a king with all his wealth and army could not encroach upon. And in that lay a life’s lesson for the king: Happiness is not about power or pelf but spiritual enlightenment. Khalil Gibran said, “Happiness is a myth we seek”. Economists and social scientists find happiness in money and some are convinced that money can even buy happiness. Can real happiness be found in material wealth? Or, is it to be found only in spiritual pursuits?

A Nobel-Prize winning economist has concluded that happiness tends to rise with increase in income. The economist Daniel Kahneman and his fellow economist Matthew Killingsworth have arrived at this conclusion based on a survey of 33,391 people with an income of at least $10,000.

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