The last-minute, unexpected withdrawal of Kiribati from the Pacific Island Forum has caught the region by surprise. As nations from Palau to Polynesia prepare for the 2022 edition of the summit, Kiribati’s sudden exit – and the stated rationale – has thrown into disarray the ‘unity’ of the Pacific community, at a time where this […]
Kiribati: Pacific Grim Read More »
Finland and Sweden are set to become NATO’s youngest members following the June summit in Madrid. The fast-tracking of the two Scandinavian democracies is expected to further isolate Russia, officially designated ‘the most significant threat to international security’ in the latest Strategic Concept. Finnish and Swedish representatives were hesitant to accept a membership condition imposed
Global sanctions on Russia continue apace, and there are rare admissions from within the country that these are working. Transport Minister, Vitaly Savelyev, has indicated that current trade logistics have been ‘virtually wrecked’, and the news that McDonalds and Starbucks are to permanently leave the country is, to the ordinary Russian, just as disappointing as
The luxuries of avoiding sanctions Read More »
While most of the world has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one region has been far less forthcoming than most in registering its opposition. This is Africa, where half of the continent’s representatives in the UN failed to support the initial resolution demanding an immediate end to the invasion and from which condemnation has
Africa and Russia: It takes two Read More »
The invasion of Ukraine has been not so much a wake-up call as a repeated alarm – first Georgia in 2008, then Crimea in 2014, now Ukraine in 2022. On the third time, the world has realised that it can no longer press the snooze button on Russia’s aggression. But to suggest that this is
Wagner’s spin cycle Read More »
If irony needs physical form made flesh, there can be few better examples than last month’s findings of an official Commission report that the British Virgin Islands was suffering from poor governance and widespread corruption, having to be brought forward because the Islands’ Premier, Andrew Fahie, was arrested in the USA and stripped of his
Virgin on the ridiculous Read More »
Royals and espionage have gone together ever since Sun Tzu’s identification to his royal masters in the 4th century BC, of the three different types of intelligence agents he deemed necessary for subsequent military success. In the centuries since, we have seen Julius Caesar’s creation of a spy network to keep track of all the
A right Royal case of espionage Read More »
The phrase “The Great Game” has become something of a lazy cliché when referencing anything to do with Central Asia. Regrettably, therefore, it has never been more apt than today. Much as it was during the days of empire, it is once again a hotbed of political and geopolitical struggle. Where aristocrats, warlords, tribesmen and
Central Asia – A House Built on Sand Read More »
‘Facts are sacred’, was the famous maxim of Guardian owner and editor, CP Scott, in the early 1900s. Quite what he would have made of the media of today, where ‘fake news’ runs rampant across social media and disinformation is not only endorsed but enacted by individuals, corporates, and governments alike, we can only imagine.
Disinformation overload Read More »
‘Bronze President’ is not just another nickname for Donald Trump. It is a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group that has historically operated in the South Asian region, working across Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Burma (Myanmar), to gather sensitive information of interest to Beijing in its own backyard. But there are signs that the group’s targets are
Mustang Panda, Hidden Dragon Read More »
