In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Julian Ku

02 Oct

As I suggested earlier, the President has ample legal authority to strike back at those responsible for the deaths of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya. The NYT reports that the Pentagon is preparing to exercise this legal authority: The American military’s top-secret Joint Special Operations Command is preparing detailed information that could be used...

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02 Oct

I have very much enjoyed our guest commentary on the Kiobel extraterritoriality issue and can't resist adding my two cents.  In short, I am pretty dissatisfied with the arguments made by the petitioners, respondents and the United States government. I am not dissatisfied because the arguments are "wrong", but because none seem to offer a persuasive theory of the purpose of...

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01 Oct

I am still digesting the transcript of the Kiobel reargument today, although I can say that nothing in the argument today has changed my view that this brief (which both Ken and I signed) represents the best approach to resolving the case.  I will say, however,  that nothing in the argument suggested that any member of the Court is considering...

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20 Sep

The former owners of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, whose sale to the Japanese government has unleashed hundreds of violent anti-Japan protests across China, are calling for Japan to send the dispute to the International Court of Justice. China is very outspoken about its position over the Senkaku Islands, but Japan has its own position as well, and it needs to get that...

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20 Sep

The Obama Administration appears to have shifted its views on the nature of the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that resulted in the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.  Rather than blaming the attack on a "spontaneous" reaction to the offensive US film (which U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice seemed...

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19 Sep

Courtesy of Shanghaiist, a video of Chinese protesters (about the 1 minute mark) surrounding U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke's car in Beijing. The protesters throw bottles, try to grab the car, and shout: "Down With American Imperialists!"  Boy, so much fun to be a U.S. diplomat these days. ...

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15 Sep

While U.S. embassies around the Middle East continue to face angry mobs, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing also faced its own angry (but less violent) mob today.  As China blogger Sinostand reports, hundreds of Chinese citizens threw eggs and rocks at the Japanese Embassy in protest at Japan's actions to nationalize the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea....

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12 Sep

Here it comes: President Obama is exercising his Commander-in-Chief powers, a la Durand v. Hollins: The U.S. responded to the assault by dispatching two Navy destroyers, dozens of Marines, federal investigators and intelligence assets to Libya to protect Americans and hunt the suspected religious extremists who carried out the attack late Tuesday. U.S. officials described the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher...

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12 Sep

[I posted this originally at the same time as Duncan, so it is a bit repetitive, but I'll leave its content basically as is]. Sad and startling news:  U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed yesterday in a rocket attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.  This is an addition to another violent attack on the U.S. Embassy in...

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29 Aug

It is a draft platform, but these parts of the 2012 GOP Platform are certainly interesting. It appears to have strong language in favor of "American Exceptionalism" and American sovereignty. Under our Constitution, treaties become the law of the land. So it is all the more important that the Congress -- the senate through its ratifying power and the House through...

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24 Aug

I hope this statement by Assange's legal team is just seeking leverage for negotiations, because I think their claim would be blown out of the water by the ICJ. It would be an international embarrassment for Ecuador. Actually, it would be a further international embarrassment for Ecuador, which is already beginning to seem a little ridiculous in its involvement in this...

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