The following excerpt is from NYSA-ILA Pension Trust Fund By and Through Bowers v. Garuda Indonesia, 7 F.3d 35 (2nd Cir. 1993):
The FSIA is the sole source of subject matter jurisdiction for federal courts in cases involving foreign states. Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U.S. 428, 434, 109 S.Ct. 683, 688, 102 L.Ed.2d 818 (1989). If the foreign sovereign immunity provisions of the FSIA are applicable, a federal court is divested of subject matter jurisdiction over the action. Id. The FSIA provides that "a foreign state shall be immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States and of the States except as provided in sections 1605 to 1607 of this chapter." 28 U.S.C. 1604. A defendant corporation that is owned entirely by a foreign state also is considered to be a distinct foreign state and immune from the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Id. 1603(a), 1603(b)(2), 1604. See First Nat'l City Bank v. Banco Para el Comercio Exterior de Cuba, 462 U.S. 611, 625-28, 103 S.Ct. 2591, 2599-2601, 77 L.Ed.2d 46 (1983).
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