Already a byword for insecurity and danger, the Middle East has this past month been plunged into further crisis by a number of issues. Qatar and six other states have all but come to blows, internal tension is brewing in Iran between the political and religious hierarchy, and an unexpected change in Saudi succession could […]
Middle East: The end of Ramadan brings fresh problems Read More »
Even the most casual of Middle East watchers cannot have failed to spot the sudden boiling over of the diplomatic crisis in Qatar. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have accused this tiny peninsula of directly funding Islamist terrorism and have closed their airspace, expelled their diplomats and ordered Qatari citizens to return
The Qatar Crisis & Its Implications Read More »
The Iranian news agency, Tasnim has just reported a shooting and hostage situation at the Iranian parliament and that twelve people are reportedly dead. However, there are conflicting reports across several state news agencies as to how many attackers were involved, whether one of the attackers blew themselves up with explosives, or whether security forces
Iran: an escalation of terrorism? Read More »
Greece today finds itself in the unenviable position of having to sell off yet more State assets as part of a desperate battle just to stay afloat under the ridiculous pressure of international bailout terms. Germany (as part of the EU and in conjunction with the ECB) utterly refuses to allow Greece any form of
Perhaps, Greece needs debt forgiveness? Read More »
Current events in the Philippines have brought to the fore once again the spread of extremism and radicalism from its heartland, and further destabilized the already shaky foundation of a complex and dangerous environment. The city of Marawi has for the past week effectively been a warzone, as the Philippine army battles Islamist militants in
The Philippines: Revival of contagion Read More »
Regardless of whether one believes President Trump gained power via Russian ‘collusion’ or somehow managed to influence the British public’s decision to vote for Brexit, etc, one thing is absolutely certain in today’s post-truth world. While the cracks of disunity emerge between the so-called allied countries to reveal the true playing field in the world
Putin and Xi Jinping are the ones looking presidential Read More »
The Chinese president Xe Jinping has said recently that he is willing to help mend ties with South Korea, which have become more than a little strained since the deployment of the US missile-defence system there. But this ‘tension’ should be seen as nothing more than a public distraction or a magician’s ‘sleight of hand’.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Korea? Read More »
Hackers either working for the Vietnamese government or on their behalf have broken into the computers of multinationals operating in the country as part of an increasingly sophisticated cyber espionage campaign, according to a security company called FireEye. Cyber-criminals are frequently reported in the news for their attempts to gain access to valuable data to
Since the formal break up of the USSR at the end of 1991, the majority of the former Soviet bloc countries would certainly appear to offer great, albeit still risky, investment opportunities in one form or another to the wealthy speculative investor. That view is perhaps easy to understand given the geopolitical position Russia finds
Russia: Still the USSR in all but name Read More »
The sheer scale of the cyber-attack that took place on Friday the 12th, which affected 150 countries, is unprecedented. Companies are still working to ensure their protection from the ransomware. The ransomware utilised over the weekend is called WannaCry, which is designed to spread quickly from a single machine across an entire network, allowing for
WannaCry: The Fallout Continues Read More »