China has banned its trawlers from fishing in waters off the eastern coast of North Korea, due to a dispute over fuel supplies. South Korea has "strongly" protested against a Japanese defense report for describing South Korea-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan as Japanese territory. Corruption has worsened in most Arab countries since their 2011 revolutions, even though anger with corrupt officials was a...
My thanks to Brad Roth for pointing me to a recent New York Times article on activists in Okinawa seeking secession from Japan. Okinawa is part of the Ryukyu island chain. The Ryukyu Kingdom was an independent or semi-independent state until annexed by Japan and renamed the Okinawa Prefecture in 1879. It was occupied by the Allies in World War...
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...
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...
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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Tens of thousands of Croatians cheered the country's entry into the European Union. Ecuador's Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patino, has called on the US to explain itself to the world over its massive spy program. Millions of people have taken to the streets of Cairo and other cities across Egypt, demanding the resignation of President Mohamed Morsi amid sporadic violence that left several...
Those international investment law nerds out there know that Article 54 of the ICSID Convention requires each state party to "recognize an award rendered pursuant to this Convention as binding and enforce the pecuniary obligations imposed by that award within its territories as if it were a final judgment of a court in that State." Many of you also probably know...
