Just when I thought I was beyond being genuinely horrified, Roving Bandit called my attention to a story in Der Spiegel that almost defies words: The ambassadors of the 28 European Union member states had agreed to secrecy. "Under no circumstances" should the public learn what was said at the talks that took place on March 23rd, the European Commission warned...
Russia scored a huge victory today when the Hague District Court in the Netherlands court set aside a $50 billion arbitral award in favor of former shareholders of Yukos. The $50 billion Yukos award (that's BILLION, with a "B"), is the largest arbitration award ever issued, was issued under the authority of the Energy Charter Treaty. The arbitral tribunal (hosted at...
Along with more than 200 other lawyers and academics, I have signed an open letter to the UK government criticising the UK's investigatory powers bill -- aka the "Snooper's Charter." Here is the text of the letter: The UK’s investigatory powers bill receives its second reading on Tuesday. At present the draft law fails to meet international standards for surveillance powers....
It's been a rough U.S. presidential campaign season for free traders. Very few of the candidates are willing to voice broad support for free trade and free trade agreements. Populist candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have made some pretty ugly noises about either violating or withdrawing from existing trade agreements. Although Donald Trump's proposal for 45% tariffs on China...
Things are not going well for Ukraine. It has lost Crimea, effective control over eastern parts of its territory, its divided government is hampered by corruption which is sparking more internal violence, and its economy is doing poorly. Russia is the cause of many (though not all) of its problems, so it is not surprising that Ukraine is looking to try...
I had the honor and pleasure of testifying today before the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee. The topic of the hearing was "Examining International Climate Negotiations" and the upcoming conference in Paris. My own contribution argued that an agreement with legally binding emissions reduction obligations should be submitted to the Senate as a treaty rather than as a...
Ilya Somin has updated his post at the Volokh Conspiracy to include my critique, and his response to my critique. I just want to add two more points to our little debate on the domestic legal effect of the North Atlantic Treaty's Article V collective self-defense clause before we put it to rest. (For those of you looking for a...
Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy has suggested that if NATO invokes Article V's collective self-defense language against ISIS as a result of the terrible Paris attacks over the weekend, President Obama's ongoing use of military force against ISIS could be "legalized" as a matter of U.S. constitutional law. Here is Ilya: Article 5 provides a much stronger justification for the war...
I have finally made my way through the OTP's 162-page request to open an investigation into the situation in Georgia. I hope to write a few posts in the coming days on various aspects of the request; in this post I simply want to note my surprise that the OTP has not alleged that Georgia is responsible for two interrelated war crimes:...
States whose nationals died in the attack on MH17 were understandably upset when Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have created an ad hoc tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the attack. Their idea to create a treaty-based court, however, is simply not helpful: Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, will meet with her counterparts from Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine on...
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the UK had conducted a lethal drone strike against one of its own nationals (affiliated with ISIS) in August and that the British government was confident of the strike's legality under international law. As an outside observer, I am fascinated at how important the drone strike's legality under international law seems to...
As the fighting in Ukraine continues into its second year, recent reports have variously focused on the promise of a weapons withdrawal and the risk that there is the opening of a new front opening. Recent international legal scholarship has attempted to frame the conflict within the context of international law and consider topics such as issues of legality and...
