The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the U.S. government agency that regulates offshore fishing, has proposed a new set of regulations to reduce bycatch of Bluefin tuna by economic disincentive. The Washington Post reports that: “Under the proposal, the NMFS would sharply cut back the number of bluefin tuna that individual fishing vessels are allowed to capture accidentally, setting a quota...
China's East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) has spawned tons of media commentary, so much so that I have had little to add and can barely keep up with all the coverage. Still, there is one small legal point that bears some further discussion. While I think the U.S. is correct as a matter of policy to push...
I've been so distracted with my own projects and with China's ADIZ that I forgot to note that Russia has been in violation of its obligations under UNCLOS since at least December 2. But that's OK, it seems that everyone else has forgotten this fact as well. December 2 was the date set by the International Tribunal for the Law of...
Amidst all the more substantial reflections on the life of Nelson Mandela, it feels ridiculously trivial to keep thinking of my own fleeting moment of meeting him back in 1994. But keep thinking of it I do. I was a terribly junior staffer in the Clinton White House then, a writer and editor of presidential prose, at least...
One hundred and ten years ago next month, British geographer Halford Mackinder presented a paper at the Royal Geographical Society in London entitled “The Geographical Pivot of History,” setting out the basic tenets of what we now call “geopolitics.” Strategic thinking during the Cold War was in part framed by geopolitical ideas such as the struggle over key territory in...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Middle East The Israeli army fired into Syria after its troops were shot at on the occupied Golan Heights, the military said. The IAEA will probably need more money to verify the implementation of a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, and it would take some...
Calls for Papers December 1, 2013, is the deadline for applications for the Third Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law, which will be held at the University of Melbourne on July 7, 8 and 9, 2014. Regrettably, no applications can be received after this date, and full details of the application process and requirements are here. The Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative...
This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin asked why the agreement between the P5+1 and Iran is not void given that it goes against earlier UNSC resolutions prohibiting uranium enrichment by Iran. Duncan also looked at the deal, decided that it is not actually legally binding, and asked whether that mattered. Kevin found the timing of the Bemba arrests curious and raised a word of...
[Craig H. Allen is the Judson Falknor Professor of Law at the University of Washington in Seattle.] The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) dealt a blow to the Russian Federation on November 22nd, when it ordered Moscow to release the Arctic Sunrise and the remainder of the Greenpeace protestors who were on the vessel when Russia seized it...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Middle East Iran and six world powers clinched a deal to curb the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for initial sanctions relief, signalling the start of a game-changing rapprochement that would reduce the risk of a wider Middle East war, though a "tough road ahead" awaits those working to...
I don't have any insights to offer on the big news this weekend, that legally-non binding-UNSC-resolution-violating agreement in Geneva. But I did want to note one other big sort-of-law news item from the other side of the world: China's announcement that it is drawing an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, including over the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku...
A flurry of news today over the announcement that Iran has cut a deal with six major world powers -- the Permanent 5 members of the UN Security Council -- the US, Russia, China, France and the UK -- plus Germany. The text of the 'Joint Plan of Action' is also widely available (see here or here). My first reaction on...
