I wrote this last July but it still seems relevant…

Perhaps in 2029 everything named after Trump can be renamed after his father, F Trump.

1/ I've taught/referenced three democracy indexes/reports over the years- from Freedom House, the V-Dem Institute, and The Economist Intelligence Unit. V-Dem just came out with its 2026 report. Like most measures of the health of democracy, it's not good news. www.v-dem.net/documents/75...

Love this justice. Love this result (for now). slate.com/news-and-pol...

Interesting research on the limited but still existent duty to rescue after a submarine attack on a vessel under international and US law. digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcont...

What rule follows from this? And how do Heads of Government feel about it?

Russia’s full-scale invasion began 4 years ago. It began in winter, and so this winter is the 5th. And, for civilians, the worst. Russia launches missiles and drones at energy infrastructure to force Ukrainians to endure the freezing cold. Here's how you can help snyder.substack.com/p/the-long-u...

Hey Europe, it won't end with Greenland. Unless you push back. Stand up for yourself. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusi... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusi...

Nice reporting!

"The US sanctions policy thus proves to be not only an attack on the ICC, but an attack on the law itself." KAI AMBOS on the far-reaching impact of the US sanctions against the ICC — and why the European Union must respond now. verfassungsblog.de/sanctions-us...

If fentanyl (which is approved as an analgesic by the FDA) is a WMD (because overdoses kill people) then USAID cuts are _definitely_ a WMD. I would love it if politicians took the opioid crisis seriously instead of resorting to nonsense for cheap political gain. www.cgdev.org/blog/update-...

opiniojuris.org/2025/12/15/w... TLDR: Russia should be pressed to commit to not expanding its territory.This should be made enforceable through Treaty Law, UNSC Res., Russian Con law, and preemptive waiver of immunity over foreign assets. Too much to ask? That illustrates the point. Feedback welcome

The Trump Administration's betrayal of people from Afghanistan is disgusting. This is what I said about what we owe back in 2024. Jus post bellum obligations of intervening states: A legal and ethical analysis of what we owe to the people of Afghanistan e-publica.pt/article/122066

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u... “Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered American diplomats in Europe and in Canada, Australia and New Zealand”… why those countries I wonder? “to press their host governments to restrict most immigration”

I love these comparisons. Naomi is a genius. www.justsecurity.org/124560/us-ca...

Can someone explain to me when a "case" is a "case" at the ICC, at least according to its website? If the definition of a "case" is confirmation of charges, why is Al-Bashir a case? www.icc-cpi.int/cases?field_...

I was interviewed, along with Mark Drumbl and Sara Ochs, by The Globe and Mail about the recent sanctions. Gift link: www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/54dc6cf... If the gift link stops working: www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl... tldr: “The question is what friends of the court are going to do"

Feedback welcome on my latest post on ‪@opiniojuris.bsky.social‬ 'The “Camp Zeist” Solution to the Iranian Nuclear Problem: How the Scottish Court in The Netherlands Could Be a Model for a New Deal with Iran.' opiniojuris.org/2025/07/22/t...

Statute of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine highpoints: Art. 23. Personal immunity for sitting HoS, HoG, MFA! Art 1: No temporal limit to jurisdiction. Art 2: RS 8 bis equivalent. Art. 4: RS 27 equivalent. Art. 11.3.c independent Defence Unit under the Registry.

Eager to see more from this research.

Whoa. Spicy footnote from Justice Jackson, dissenting in the ADA case. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

www.fnv.nl/cao-sector/o... For my Dutch Higher Education colleagues...

This is worth translating into English for those of us whose Dutch needs work. I hadn’t heard Schabas weighed in. All about growing consensus.

This was written due to concern over corruption: "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

Brilliant. www.justsecurity.org/106953/invas...

Not nothing, but not a final deal as it’s been sold. Reasonable for both leaders to sell it as a win. Stupid for the press to buy it.

Current US tariffs break international trade agreements. Perhaps if there was greater cultivated respect for international law in the US, Trump's open, announced in advance, flouting of it would have been more of a problem for him politically.

Gift article to get through the paywall. Listen to it if you can. Have tissues ready. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/m...

What if instead of "AI" when we were talking about output from large language models, we said "whatarepeoplesaying." As in, 'some DOGE intern asked "whatarepeoplesaying" for a simple way to summarise tariff and non-tariff barriers and crashed the world economy.'

This looks interesting for human rights documentation. Interoperability is a big problem. Sort of huridocs+. A Shared Data Model for Improved Documentation of Human Rights Violationshttps://academic.oup.com/jhrp/article/16/3/1007/7729217

Wish I could point those scientists to The Netherlands, but until the Dutch government stops its war on higher education... gizmodo.com/poll-finds-t...

One of Stephens' better articles: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/o...

Feedback welcome - my latest on opinio juris: opiniojuris.org/2025/02/21/t...

Grotius Centre International Criminal Law Summer School 2025⚖️ in The Hague #InternationalCriminalLaw remains a cornerstone of #PublicInternationalLaw, shaping our responses to global challenges. www.linkedin.com/posts/grotiu... Looks like the best one yet. #ICL

What's the difference between Donald John Trump and Arthur Neville Chamberlain? Chamberlain was British. Also 10 years younger. Also he actually loved his country, even if he did so unwisely.

Trying to figure out what this reminds me of: Russia and the US meet in Saudi Arabia to determine Ukraine's fate. apnews.com/article/russ...

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... ANNEX Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the ICC. That's it. That's the annex. #ICCsanctions

States are safer than natural persons on this. Every state that values international law, human rights, and their own integrity should step up. Bravo to these 79...

Regulatory lawyers, help me: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... "(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply [...] notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of this order." Does this mean contracts etc need to be cancelled?

This is the only place I'm seeing this so far:"Trump to issue executive order relating to ICC sanctions Trump and Israeli PM Netanyahu are meeting today" ... if anybody knows anything, please feel free to share www.newsnationnow.com/politics/tru...

Trump/Hegseth's Defence department cancels Holocaust remembrance events. Not a great start. This man should resign. www.ynetnews.com/article/s15v...

This is good. Great to see the Democrats stand up like this. Perspectives on how far and how quickly the Trump Administration could take sanctions against the ICC and its officials without this bill are welcome. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

Looking forward to this one...

Ukraine has a manpower problem. Russia does too. Russia solves it by throwing money at it. Why don't Ukraine's allies throw money at it? Encourage more Ukrainians to voluntarily join? It would be an incredible security bargain. kyivindependent.com/ukraine-appr... newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/how-muc...

Trump has rescinded Biden's executive order, which rescinded Trump's executive order. "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Associated With the International Criminal Court" is back in force, allowing certain "foreign person[s] determined by the Secretary of State" to be sanctioned.

The good people at Global Transformations and Governance Challenges kindly posted my reflection on the ICJ Climate AO and human rights. Link below. Feedback welcome! Happy Human Rights Day everyone! Take a moment to celebrate emptied Syrian torture centers. Then... back to work.

Thanks for the interview @dalton.bsky.social !

Nice discussion with my colleagues about UN-ICC Relationship Agreement (e.g. www.ejiltalk.org/analyzing-th...) and Art 90 of the Dutch constitution - any thoughts re. Headquarters Agreement etc. welcome.

Reuters says that France24, 8TV (Malaysia), SABC2 (South-Africa) and CITY (Canada) used an interview with me, but I haven't been able to verify it. Anybody who sees anything in the wild, or touching on this issue of contacts with those with arrest warrants, very welcome.

Trouw quoted me on the Arrest Warrants: www.trouw.nl/politiek/vel...