Episode 40: Syriana (2005) (Guest: Peggy McGuinness)

Episode 40: Syriana (2005) (Guest: Peggy McGuinness)

Jonathan Hafetz

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Description

Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, based loosely on former CIA case officer Robert Baer’s memoir, See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism. The film weaves together multiple storylines that involve a CIA agent, a U.S. energy analyst, a major transnational law firm, and an oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom. It tackles complex themes of corruption, power, and terrorism from a distinctly post-9/11 vantage point. The film also suggests how law operates in transnational settings and how it seeks—but often fails—to tame the forces of ambition, greed, and power that drive the oil industry and America’s role in it.

Guest: Margaret (“Peggy”) McGuinness

Margaret (Peggy) McGuinness joined the St. John’s faculty in 2010. Professor McGuinness researches and teaches in the areas of international law and international human rights law. She has published widely on the subjects of international human rights law, international security and the resolution of armed conflict, and the role and influence of international law in the United States. Professor McGuinness’s current research examines U.S. diplomacy and its influence on international human rights governance. Her recent work includes, Human Rights Reporting as Human Rights Governance, published in Columbia Journal on Transnational Law. She is also the co-editor (with David Stewart, Georgetown Law) of the forthcoming Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Law and Diplomacy (forthcoming 2021). Professor McGuinness serves on the Council on International Affairs of the New York City Bar and the Executive Committee of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association, where she is also co-chair of the Public International Law Committee. Professor McGuinness previously worked as a litigator for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Her career in the law follows an early career as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, which included service in Germany, Pakistan and Canada, and as a Special Assistant to Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
3:00 The context and setting
5:24 The film’s multiple storylines
8:28 Former CIA agent Robert Baer
19:22 Capital markets and energy derivatives
25:26 Big oil in the early 2000s and today
28:28 Big law and the Jeffrey Wright character
33:43 DOJ’s investigation
37:14 The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
42:40 The illusion of due diligence
47:40 Radicalization
53:06 Gulf monarchs
55:10 Targeted assassination
1:01:14 The next movie: big tech and AI
1:01:52 The outcome

Further Reading:

Alyson, Brusie et al., “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” 61 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 713 (2024)

Baer, Robert, See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism (Crown, 2003)

Kahrl, William L., “The Politics of the California Water: Owens Valley and the Los Angeles Aqueduct, 1900 – 1927,” Hastings West-Northwest J. Envt’l L. & Policy, vol. 6, nos. 1 & 2 (2000)

Lewis, R. James & Awan, Akil N. eds. Radicalization: A Global and Comparative Perspective (Oxford Univ. Press, 2024)

Stiglitz, Jospeh E., Globalization and Its Discontents (W. W. Norton & Co. 2002)

Publication Date

3-18-2025

Disciplines

Law

Episode 40: Syriana (2005) (Guest: Peggy McGuinness)

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