Even so, if he decides to use military force, Mr Obamaa will have to show that he has exhausted diplomatic options and present a defensible legal justification, and that is not a simple matter.
Even so, if he decides to use military force, Mr Obama will have to show that he has exhausted diplomatic options and present a defensible legal justification, and that is not a simple matter". "A superpower's most valuable possession is credibility.
He added: "We believe that a robust and legally-defensible objective justification needs to be in place, in the event of an independence vote, before the Act that would create an independent Scotland is enforced".
I have the questionable distinction of appearing on Larry Kudlow's CNBC program several times a week, arguing with people whose positions under normal circumstances would get no serious attention, and defending policies I would have thought so clearly and obviously defensible they should need no justification.
Even though it is part of our everyday practice, is this approach to deliberating about what is right and finding justification for our views defensible?
On the other hand, Rawls view fits with the claim by some contemporary theorists of knowledge that a coherence account of justification is distinguishable from a coherence account of truth and defensible when so separated.
Justifications for constraints or losses of sovereignty have particular merits, some more defensible than others.
Were our actions defensible?
Is there any justification for what the CIA euphemistically calls "enhanced interrogation techniques", meaning torture, as routinely practised at Guantanamo Bay? Waterboarding, once practicised by the Spanish Inquisition, has yielded information that has saved innocent lives: does that make it defensible?
This reluctance is defensible.
