An article in China's leading state-run paper, the People's Daily, suggesting that the time may be ripe to reopen the question of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa has already sparked sharp reactions. The WSJ's blog on China picked up the story, as did this Business Insider post, headlined: "China Now Says It May Own Okinawa, Too." Other even more lurid headlines: "China Demands Japan Cede...
[Milena Sterio holds a dual J.D./maitrise en droit degree, and she is Associate Professor of Law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where she specializes in International Law and International Criminal Law.] The Court of Appeal of Versailles, France, ruled last week on an important case regarding the civil liability of French companies for their role in the construction of a light...
This according to the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which has considerable investigative ability. Reuters: (Reuters) - U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday. The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen...
I've seen some strange reality TV in my time, but (mock) picking the next Palestinian head of state? The hit show, called simply The President, has grown out of widespread frustration among Palestinians at their own moribund politics in the real world. The current president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, remains in office four years after his mandate expired. His party, Fatah,...
ABC's Univision reports on this op-ed by former Colombian foreign secretary and former vice justice minister, which seems to accuse shadowy Chinese business interests of influencing the recent ICJ decision in Nicaragua v. Colombia. Here is the crux of the alleged wrongdoing (or at least shady conduct): ...
An Ontario court in Yaiguaje v. Chevron has dismissed the Ecuadorian plaintiffs' efforts to enforce the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron Canada. Essentially the dismissal rests on the doctrine of the separate legal identities of parent and subsidiary corporations. Chevron has no assets in Canada, and the subsidiaries' assets there cannot be attached to enforce a judgment against the parent...
I have no desire to get into an argument with Eugene Kontorovich about the ostensibly "landmark" decision of a French intermediate court -- especially because, like him, I am far from fluent in French and the decision strikes me as quite legally complicated. But it is important to push back against claims like these (emphasis mine): This is an extraordinarily important holding in...
This report out of Prensa Latina in Havana suggests that the ICJ has expressed some sort of positive opinion on quality of Bolivia's case against Chile. In a press conference, [Bolivian Foreign Minister] Choquehuanca announced the International Court notified Chile on the start of the process and reasserted the Bolivian will of not affecting the bilateral relations with Chile. He also said the...
I want to take a moment to spruik (if you don't know the word, look it up!) Jeffrey Kahn's new book, Mrs. Shipley's Ghost: The Right to Travel and Terrorist Watchlists, which has just been published by the University of Michigan Press. Here is the publisher's description: Today, when a single person can turn an airplane into a guided missile, no...
I have now had the opportunity to read both Judge van den Wyngaert's request to be excused from the Kenyatta case and the Presidency's decision to grant that request. There is no question that workload did indeed play a role in the Judge's decision to withdraw. But it also seems clear that there was at least one other reason, as...