Influencing, it seems, is a young man’s game. When the pandemic lockdowns hit, influencers were suddenly at great pains to convince us all that lounging in Dubai jacuzzis and attending Miami photoshoots was totally necessary and strenuous. Make of this what you will. One influencer undoubtedly busy throughout the pandemic, however, was Ramon Abbas, better […]
The much-delayed trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is underway, potentially providing fascinating insight into the biggest American corporate scandal since Enron. While Holmes has denied all the charges of fraud against her, the true scope and scale of exactly what transpired at Theranos may never be known. The mere theatre of proceedings, coupled with
Theranos, The Mad Titan? Read More »
In February of this year, one of the men accused of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia changed his plea to guilty and was sent to jail. The two others charged still maintain their innocence. This came after months of revelations that should have struck at the heart of justice, institutions and European values on
Afghanistan: The Terrible New Game Read More »
Is the threat picture irrevocably changing? That’s the question posed by Director of MI5, Ken McCallum, in his second yearly annual threat update recently. Tellingly, ‘disruptive threats’ from states – defined by McCallum as ‘less visible’ when compared to the typical terrorist atrocities – are now put on a par with the latter – and
Public Enemies No. 1, 2, 3… Read More »
Cryptocurrencies continue to make waves in the vast ocean of the global economy. The concept has taken off massively in recent years and may be about to step out onto the biggest stage yet: becoming legal tender in the country of El Salvador. The venture is being touted as ‘a great leap forward for humanity’
Currency speculating… Read More »
Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia have a shared economic and cultural heritage built around the Nile River, which stretches from the source at Lake Tana to the floodplains of Alexandria. However, tensions are rising in all three nations as a battle for water supremacy threatens to plunge the region into a simmering conflict – and perhaps
Kind of Blue (Nile) Read More »
The ongoing revelations about the arrest of a security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin, suspected of supplying sensitive documents to Russia, brings into sharp relief not only the ‘Great Game’ of espionage, which never really went away, but the moves by which the game is played. So much focus these days is given
Smiley’s happy people Read More »
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone. Forget Covid, forget climate change, let the entire 21st century slip by. For Afghanistan, twenty years of progress and healing have been wiped out in a matter of weeks as the national government has collapsed, international forces are fleeing, and the Taliban are in complete control in
Afghanistan: intelligence failure or state failure? Read More »
Pegasus, the spyware product designed by the Israeli surveillance company NSO has dominated the headlines since its exposure in July 2021. This is the third ‘great leak’ of recent times, after the Paradise and Panama Papers, and comes from the collaborative work of more than eighty journalists, from seventeen media organisations, in ten different countries.
The Pegasus Project: Secrets, lies, and mobile spies Read More »
