The Maltese Full Con

The tragic death of blogger and investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia earlier this week has shone a light, intentionally or otherwise, on the corruption and ‘dodgy dealings’ prevalent on Malta. Far from the aim of becoming a major EU financial centre, the island has become a seeming hub of financial crime of all kinds and,

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Iraq: Independence Day?

Two highly controversial referendums have taken place in recent weeks, with both Catalonia in Spain and Kurdistan in Iraq claiming the right to self-determination and outright independence, and both being loudly (and forcefully) shouted down by their mother governments. While the ultimate outcome of the process is of course significant in both regions, it is

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Lion

The last Kings of Scotland

Something perhaps almost unprecedented happened in Kenya last month, when the Supreme Court annulled the result of the August presidential poll after finding it ‘neither transparent nor verifiable’, and ordering a rerun. While still-incumbent President Kenyatta castigated this as a ‘judicial coup’, all signs are that the election will be rerun, raising for the first

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Play Up, Play Up, And Play The Great Game

The drones of today can be applied to many purposes. Surveillance footage of a suspected terrorist hideout? Certainly. Delivery of online shopping purchases? If you like. Finding out whether the big game formation will be 4-4-2 again? Hang about… At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, headlines were briefly made when the French national team

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Caviar Diplomacy: Azerbaijan’s Fishy Business

In the 2013 Azerbaijan Presidential elections, incumbent Ilham Aliyev romped to victory. No surprise there. Except, that he managed to do it a whole twenty-four hours before the election was held… The Central Election Commission, on whose smartphone app the result appeared, variously described this as the previous election’s result (it wasn’t), a test run

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Brexit

With or Without EU…

The impending ‘Brexit’ has led political and financial commentators to speculate on both sides about what state the UK, and the European Union, will be in afterwards. But what cannot be ignored is that Brexit will by no means give the UK a ‘blank slate’ to act unilaterally on certain matters – particularly where security

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