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 […]
Caviar Diplomacy: Azerbaijan’s Fishy Business Read More »
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
With or Without EU… Read More »
A recent news report by the BBC states that identity fraud has increased by 33% with the fraud prevention agency Cifas stating that the thefts are becoming easier to facilitate online. Internet forums have been created selling information to open bank accounts, obtain credit cards and commit fraud in other people’s names. A person’s identity
It was only twelve months ago that Brazil was basking in the glory of holding the two most prestigious sporting events on the calendar: The World Cup and the Olympics. Now more than ever it seems that such events were only sticking plasters over a country suffering an epidemic of crime and corruption. The Maracana
Brazil: Olympic Legacy Unfulfilled Read More »
As agreements and alliances are endangered on the international stage, the global community could be heading for the biggest shift since the Cold War – with ‘normalisation’ replaced by a far more suspicious and defensive state of affairs. Donald Trump’s week got worse last week when President Rouhani of Iran announced that he is willing
With new US sanctions against Iran evidencing a harder line by the Trump administration, and Rouhani threatening to withdraw from the JCPOA deal in response, Iran is once again in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Iran, as with Russia, can sometimes make interested parties fall foul of the “sanctions trap”. Essentially, to examine
Sanctions never tell the full story Read More »
To paraphrase TV comic John Oliver, the world has really come to something when a short madman with bad hair and daddy issues is threatening nuclear doom, and you still don’t know whether it’s Donald Trump or Kim Jong-Un that we are talking about. For forty years the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction kept the
How do you solve a problem like Korea? Read More »
As we slide into August it is worth considering the current ‘lay of the land’ with regards to cyber-security and assessing what we might see in the second half of 2017. The year so far has been dominated by the twin ransomware hits of WannaCry and NotPetya, but these are far from the only emerging
On Trend: The Shape Of Cyber-Security in 2017 Read More »
Last week saw the startling admission that the South Korean spy agency deliberately manipulated the 2012 presidential election, in order to ensure victory for conservative Park Geun-hye. But in a world where misinformation and campaigns of deception are commonplace, should we really be surprised? So keen was the National Intelligence Service to ensure that ‘their’
Not The Nine-O-Clock News (Or Any Other News For That Matter) Read More »
It is often said that Belarus is Europe’s last dictatorship, Now, Hungary may be about to become the EU’s first. Viktor Orban was notable from the start. One of many free-thinkers in the Hungary of the 1980s, he founded his own political party, Fidesz, in 1988, on a basis of ‘liberalism and radicalism’, which saw
A Demagogue In Democratic Clothing: Hungary Like The Wolf? Read More »