Several months ago, I examined what was shaping up to be a very dark ending to the Ukraine conflict.  Russia and the United States would draft a peace agreement requiring that Ukraine cede substantial territory to Russia, as well as potentially granting immunity to Russian officials for international crimes and enabling the mass deportation…

Reports of a possible Russia-Ukraine peace agreement continue to bubble and churn. The latest is an apparent Russian rejection of a peace plan floated by the Trump transition team.  Uncertainty over the specifics of an agreement is likely to continue at least until the new administration takes office.  But potential provisions are almost certainly being…

In 2012 the International Law Commission began to address one of the last major uncodified areas of public international law: how norms of customary law (CIL) are to be identified.  The exercise at the ILC has not been an easy one.  States commenting in 2016 on the Commission’s “draft conclusions” expressed concerns on a variety…