The expression “international arbitration” encompasses everything from historic State-to-State border disputes to routine business transactions having an international dimension (such as contracts for the transportation of goods). International commercial arbitration frequently involves State-controlled entities, and indeed a lesser but still significant number of arbitrations have been brought by foreign investors having a direct contractual relationship with a State, such as the famous Aramco case1 involving the effectiveness against Aramco of a 30-year preference granted to Aristotle Onassis by Saudi Arabia to transport oil produced in the Kingdom and AMINOIL v. Kuwait,2 which dealt with the international lawfulness of the expropriation of an important oil concession.