The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has dismissed a lawsuit by Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen who alleged he had been kidnapped by the CIA in an "extraordinary rendition" in Macedonia and Afghanistan. I can't find a copy of the opinion online, but the basis of the dismissal appears to be the "state secrets" privilege...
Last year, there was lots of grousing on this blog and elsewhere about U.S. objections to an ICC referral for Sudan. Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch, among others, claimed that an ICC referral "would start saving lives tomorrow." The U.S. relented and ...
The U.S. is commonly denounced as stingy in economic development circles for failing to donate more foreign aid. Although the U.S. government spends about $19.7 billion a year in foreign aid, more than the next two countries combined, this amount is small relative to the size of U.S. GDP. One response to this criticism is to point to private U.S....
I've spent the last week travelling in Egypt (Failed State Rank No. 31) taking in the sights and wandering for the past few days in the Western Desert (somehow, they survive there without internet access). Of course, during that short time, there have been violent clashes between the government and opposition protesters, the government claims to have killed the...
It is rare that the U.S., Japan, Europe AND the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan all agree on something, but here it is. The aforesaid countries, plus the S-G, are locked in a serious struggle with a group of 77 developing countries over control of the U.N. budget. (See here for Amb. Bolton's summary of the problems) The developed countries...
I'm late to this notice but Foreign Policy Magazine has put out a "Failed States Index" ranking nations on 12 political and economic measures of instability. Not surprisingly, Sudan tops the list. Iraq is fourth and Afghanistan is tenth. The factors FP used include such obvious characteristics as demographic pressure, level of human flight, etc. This is...
After some last-minute lobbying of his own provinces by new Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the U.S. and Canada have announced an agreement settling their multi-decade lumber trade dispute. A copy of at least one version of the agreement can be found here. (Continue Reading) I can't speak to the actual substance of the agreement (who cares?). From a legal perspective,...
Sometimes, it is just too easy to take potshots at the U.N. Here is another example, courtesy of Fox News: Auditors from the U.N.’s investigative arm, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), are currently putting the last touches on an investigative report that has taken months to complete, and that aims to determine exactly what happened — and why —...
The ICJ has a new case. Today the Commonwealth of Dominica brought a case against Switzerland to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations, concerning alleged violations by Switzerland of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as well as of other international instruments and rules, with respect to a diplomatic envoy of Dominica to the...
The never-ending U.S.-Canada trade fight over lumber subsidies may actually be ending, according to this Maclean's report. The framework includes a cap on Canada's share of the U.S. lumber market, a border tax and the return of 78 per cent of the $5 billion in punitive duties collected by U.S. Customs since May 2002. Officials from the major producing provinces...
UVA Law School announced today that one of its graduates, Najwa Nabti, has won the inaugural Orrick International Law Fellowship to serve as a law clerk to the International Court of Justice. The Orrick International Law Fellowship is sponsored by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Japan, and is...
Japan is at it again. As I've noted before, Japan has devoted lots of attention to Okinotorishima, a bunch of rocks about the size of a king-sized bed. If it is an island, Japan has a much, much larger exclusive economic zone (where it can assert certain fishing and undersea development rights). China is not buying this view, and for...
