In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

11 May

My friend at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Rubin, offers a fairly convincing critique of the effectiveness and efficiency of the U.S. Agency for International Development as its budget is taken up this week by Congress. Take branding: Throughout the Middle East, especially in areas where anti-American sentiment is especially strong, the USAID refuses to put the USAID logo on its...

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11 May

Here's yet another long-ish story in the NY Times on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, and how it's cramping American citizens abroad.  (How many tax stories get this kind of play? NYT must have some reader traction on this.)  Remember: the US is the only country other than Eritrea that taxes its external citizens. Dueling takeaways: More AmCits abroad...

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11 May

Responding to a letter to which we linked yesterday, US Trade Representative Kirk has rejected criticism that the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement have not been transparent. The Greek left leader has asked the EU to re-examine its commitment to austerity. In talks to normalize bilateral relations, Zimbabwe has asked the EU to lift all remaining sanctions on Mugabe and senior...

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10 May

The standoff between China and the Philippines over the Huangyan Island/ Scarborough Shoal (see the island marked 黄岩 on the Chinese map to the right) has continued to fester over the past few weeks. CFR's Asia Unbound blog has a nice summary here of the latest. The bottom line: The Philippines has been calling for restraint in recent days, but the...

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10 May

More follies from the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed military commission: The video and audio feed from the war court at Guantanamo Bay is on a time delay so as to prevent accidental or deliberate disclosure of classified information during proceedings. As Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the other alleged 9/11 plotters were being arraigned last Saturday, the feed abruptly cut out. Reporters and observers...

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10 May

US President Barack Obama has backed same-sex marriage. Foreign Policy gives a global look into which countries have already legalized same-sex marriage. Stricter international rules of the Hague Adoption Convention are seen as contributing to a drastic drop in international adoptions worldwide. As another sign of heightening tensions between China and the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea, Chinese...

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10 May

There is a friendly debate going on at Prawfsblawg about whether people who have PhDs or JSDs in law are entitled to refer to themselves as "Dr. so-and-so."  Skepticism seems to be the order of the day; here are quotes from Paul Horwitz and Jeff Yates, respectively: Although I think there's a good deal to be said for obtaining JSDs or...

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09 May

That's right, Michele Bachmann has acquired Swiss citizenship and is now a dual national. The news reports say she did it for her kids. (It doesn't appear that her naturalization was necessary for her children's, since her husband was already a Swiss citizen. For those interested in the finer points of Swiss nationality law, here is a primer. Note that although...

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09 May

According to the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs, the U.S. government has recently re-affirmed its obligations to defend the Philippines under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.  This is a particularly sensitive time to re-affirm this commitment, given the ongoing tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. But what exactly is the U.S. committing to here? Would the...

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09 May

When is an arbitral panel an international tribunal for purposes of Section 1782? Section 1782, of course, is the statute that authorizes federal courts to order discovery in aid of proceedings before foreign courts and international tribunals. As discussed in a forthcoming article in the Virginia Journal of International Law entitled, Ancillary Discovery to Prove Denial of Justice,...

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