Joan donoghue, welcome to hardtalk. Happy to be here. You sat on the International Court ofjustice for pretty much 14 years. The last three years as president of the court. One of your last cases was the case brought by south africa against israel on the basis of genocide in gaza. Were you aware of the scale of International Scrutiny on that particular case . Yes, absolutely. It was very clear. And in particular, or, for example, outside of the peace palace, where the court sits, there were two groups of demonstrators, or interested people, and one of them had a Big Jumbotron Set Up Outside so that the participants there could watch what was going on inside. And we were aware of people Around The World watching the delivery of the order. Do you feel the pressure in that situation . I wouldnt say that i felt pressure but i felt that the delivery of the order itself would be something that would matter, including in the way i delivered it to regular people, notjust to International Law e
So, do you have what it takes to steer pakistan through these really tough times . Well, definitely. We are committed to steer pakistan out of these challenging and difficult times. And for that, the laws of the country are there to guide us, help us and enable us to do the right thing. And thats what were going to do. Doing the right thing really means a priority for you is to ensure that the elections in january for the National Assembly are free and fair. How confident are you that they will be . Im pretty much confident that theyre going to be free and fair. Whatever the objective tests are by any International Observer or International Media or domestic media or domestic observers, those indicators which does determine any sort of transparent and independent elections in that region, im pretty much confident that were going to acquire and achieve that. But, look, i have to put it to you that youve got the very popular Opposition Politician of the pti the Pakistan Tehreek E Insaf p
There was a plausible case to answer, but a finaljudgment is likely to take years. Today i have an exclusive interview with joan donoghue, Thejust Retired president of the icj, who delivered that initial court ruling that sent shock waves Around The World. In a sense, the whole idea of internationaljustice is on trial. How will it fare . Joan donoghue, welcome to hardtalk. Happy to be here. You sat on the International Court ofjustice for pretty much iii years. The last three years as president of the court. One of your last cases was the case brought by south africa against israel on the basis of genocide in gaza. Were you aware of the scale of International Scrutiny on that particular case . Yes, absolutely. It was very clear. And in particular, or, for example, outside of the peace palace, where the court sits, there were two groups of demonstrators, or interested people, and one of them had a Big Jumbotron Set Up Outside so that the participants there could watch what was going on
How will it fare . Joan donoghue, welcome to hardtalk. Happy to be here. You sat on the International Court ofjustice for pretty much 14 years. The last three years as president of the court. One of your last cases was the case brought by south africa against israel on the basis of genocide in gaza. Were you aware of the scale of International Scrutiny on that particular case . Yes, absolutely. It was very clear. And in particular, or, for example, outside of the peace palace, where the court sits, there were two groups of demonstrators, or interested people, and one of them had a Big Jumbotron Set Up Outside so that the participants there could watch what was going on inside. And we were aware of people Around The World watching the delivery of the order. Do you feel the pressure in that situation . I wouldnt say that i felt pressure but i felt that the delivery of the order itself would be something that would matter, including in the way i delivered it to regular people, notjust to
Relations between the us and russia are at a post cold war low point, filled with mistrust, unpredictability and potential danger. In washington, theres a president whose mixed messages tie his own staff in knots. Meanwhile, in moscow theres a president who seems intent on exploiting western division. My guest today is konstantin kosachev, chairman of the russian Senates Foreign Affairs committee and an influential russian voice on foreign affairs. Does russia see opportunity in diplomatic chaos . Konstantin kosachev, in moscow, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. You have been a diplomat and an experienced observer of International Affairs since the 1980s. Can you ever remember a time when the russia us relationship was more dysfunctional, more unpredictable . Well, i have studied historical relations between our two countries during the cold war period and definitely, we have had much worse examples of frozen relations between our two countries. So what is happening right now is definite