Brazil's foreign minister has said his government is worried by a report that the US has collected data on millions of telephone and email conversations in his country and promised to push for international protection of internet privacy. Bolivia offered asylum to former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, joining leftist allies Venezuela and Nicaragua in defiance of Washington, which is...
Calls for Papers Transnational Dispute Management has issued a call for papers entitled: "Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: In Search of A Roadmap." Publication is expected in October or November 2013. Proposals for papers (e.g., abstracts) should be submitted to the editors by 15 September 2013. A call for papers has been issued for the inaugural conference of the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics...
This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin posted how there will be no golden arches in the West Bank, kept track of the latest episode of Crossing Lines, and wondered about the anonymity of an ICTY witness whose name was made public by the ICTY. Ken turned the spotlight back to the Chevron/Ecuador dispute. A Washington Post profile on the dispute led him to inquire about...
Congratulations to Julian and his co-author, George Conway, on their op ed this morning in the Wall Street Journal, "When Corporate Defendants Go On Offense." I commented a few days ago here at OJ on a long profile in the Washington Post on the involvement of the DC lobbying-law firm Patton Boggs on the side of the plaintiffs in the...
The Egyptian army has overthrown President Mohamed Morsi and suspended the constitution, announcing a roadmap for the country’s political future that will be implemented by a national reconciliation committee. Al Jazeera has a collection of international reactions to the news and Foreign Policy introduces us to Adly Mansour, "the judge who is now (sort of) running Egypt." Tunisian opposition activists are taking cues...
As July 4th approaches, get ready for stock-in-trade accounts of uplifting naturalization ceremonies conducted in dignified settings and presided over by distinguished persons. That's a nice thing for those who see citizenship through a traditional lens and who should be getting better value for an $800 naturalization fee (never mind that most naturalization ceremonies occur in DMV-like conditions in local...
A US drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan region killed at least 17 after two missiles struck a house near the main market in Miranshah and reports allege that rescuers were hesitant to help wounded and injured for fear of a second attack, a common tactic with drone strikes. Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has rejected calls for his resignation, saying that he...
We haven't blogged recently here about the Chevron Ecuador case, but over the weekend the Washington Post carried a long analysis and profile by Business section reporter Steven Mufson on the state of play - focused particularly on a Washington insider part of the saga, the involvement of DC lobbying-law firm powerhouse, Patton Boggs. Patton Boggs has been an adviser...
Someone needs to explain this to me. The ICTY's official Twitter account just tweeted the following: Witness in Mladić trial, Dražen Erdemović, is testifying with facial and voice distortion. — ICTY (@ICTYnews) July 2, 2013 A witness normally testifies "with facial and voice distortion" in order to prevent the defendant from knowing his or her identity. So here we have the ICTY tweeting...
According to WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden--responsible for leaking the NSA security program--is seeking asylum in some 20 countries including China, India and Norway. After the backlash coming from the European Union amid reports that the US was spying on the EU, President Obama tried to allay fears by saying the US along with all countries' intel services are involved in trying to...
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Every week, for as long as the show survives, I'll be blogging about Crossing Lines, the new NBC drama that features a team of detectives who work for the ICC. Today, my expert analysis of the second episode: It's about art thieves. Really. It's about art thieves. I'm not kidding. (And don't get me started about how the team threatens to let a wounded...
