Giving...

My childhood was somewhat unique. Born in Iran during a vicious war with Iraq, guns and bombs were a daily reality.  My friends all ran around with toy guns, toy rifles, army shorts and hats, make-believe bombs and grenades and RPGs.  A number of older kids ran around with actual pistols. Before long I found myself in Texas, where part of my family lived.  Texas is a gun state; guns are wholly ingrained in the culture, in a way I've found rare even in the US, as guns are a part of daily life in a way which hasn't altered all that much since settlement of the country.  Kids in my class ran around with toy guns, toy rifles, cowboy chaps and hats, make-believe horses and shoot-outs and outlaws and sheriffs.  A number of older kids ran around with actual rifles. Throughout my childhood I begged for a toy gun.  Yet, no matter the intensity of my pleas, the fervour of my demands, the sincerity of my begging, my parents refused to allow me to own any t...

On the 6 th May, 2015, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded the matter of Questions relating to the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data (Timor-Leste v. Australia) by authorizing the return of all documents and data seized by the Australian Government to the legal advisor to Timor-Leste. The case is particularly interesting not solely for its conclusion, but perhaps more so for its contribution to the development of International Law principles, particularly as they relate to the balance between National Security and Legal Privilege, the ICJ’s ability to make provisional orders and the status of a State’s undertaking in that regard, as well as the right under International Law to the protection of communications between a party and its legal counsel. The matter may well be more widely discussed for its interim decision rather than its final one, for good reason.  This matter raised and addressed the following issues:       ...

It has been far too long since I wrote my thoughts here on this page.  Let's rectify that immediately. Thank you, dear University of Canberra, for the incredible honour of the Chancellor's Young Alumni Award.  Both for the award itself and for considering me Young just a few days removed from my birthday.  You always knew how to make me smile, UC. I've been a university student now for 15 years, and as I enter the last couple months of my law degree (that'll confuse the people who know me from Johannessen Legal), I'm starting to develop a little separation anxiety. UC was where I learnt just how fanatical people can be about politics, real or contrived.  I learnt how to anticipate questions, how to deal with apathy, how to deal with excessive enthusiasm.  I learnt about deadlines and personal responsibility for work, time management, people management, self management. I was inspired, motivated, pushed and prodded by a collection of incredible people, fr...

Spend enough time with your teammates, and words become unnecessary.  Communication is elevated from the direct to the non-verbal, simple, subtle nuances in body language being enough to express a broad range of emotions to those around you who are now much more than teammates. So we sat, my brothers and I, around a small laptop, with an internet connection so poor that only 1 or 2 of every 6 or so seconds of the 2013 Finals could be seen with any clarity. We sat around this small laptop, on a small table, in a small corner of a small town in Senegal, sweat dripping off of our weary bodies, mosquitoes gorging themselves on our swollen limbs, heads heavy from the heat of the day.  We sat, and were silent. We are teammates and brothers not by birth or by chance; we call ourselves the Big Bangs, a misleading name at the best of times, and are united in our passion, dedication and love for this not for profit which uses basketball to fight youth poverty and social disadvant...

In basketball, coaches often worry about chemistry.  Chemistry is a difficult concept to adequately describe and even more difficult to cultivate. Bringing people who are often very different together is so counter-intuitively difficult in spite of their common goals. Chemistry also ebbs and flows; where there may be a week or two where the team operates as though they are the cogs of the same machine, there may also be a couple of weeks where everyone seems to be on different pages of different books… the mixed analogy is on purpose. Fostering, developing, nurturing good chemistry is a long, arduous process, with a level of commitment involved above and beyond any other aspect of the game, which in and of itself is complicated and intensely grand in its scope. I’m sitting in front of my laptop this morning, working on several things at once, and watching the San Antonio Spurs, my hometown team, the team upon which my beloved charity, the Big Bangs, my philosophy o...