An alarming scenario has just been outlined to me by a Asian politician with no skin in the Ukrainian game which envisages China putting into affect its long term startegy to regain Taiwan while the US and Europe is focused on Russia’s Ukraine adventure. This alarm gains some credibility as …
Dangerous ambiguity of power and money Disclosure is at the heart of honest politics. If you don’t know the factors that affect politicians before they make a decision, you cannot trust the decision. A decision, for example about state procurement or an appointment to government, will be tainted if it …
A tailor’s Tale It all started when a taxi driver told me he had recently had a Russian tailor in the back of his taxi who had asked him to take him to a house on the Bishop’s Avenue in North London. The then President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, had …
Russian security services allegedly target Winter and Paralympic games Russians and Eastern Europeans more generally are the primary conveyors of viruses and Trojans that sit in computers of soft and unsuspecting Westerners, working in offices or playing at home. The cold war with the East is waged in virtual space …
Pandemic has brought everyone closer to their computer; a relationship that was once distant and casual has become of necessity umbilical and even affectionate. If you cannot do without something, you are likely to become close to it, even trusting. Once you buy everything off the internet, especially if you …
MOU sets basis for unprecedented working together Malaysia’s main opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, has used the instability of the newly created coalition government of Ismail Sabri to obtain a role in influencing the composition of the country’s budget, that is unique in the country’s history. The gain by the opposition …
Populations of autocracies are invariably cynical about the financial behaviour of politicians. Each new revelation – such as those in the Pandora Papers just released about the King of Jordan, the President of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan etc – comes as not the slightest surprise to the people …
31 August 2021 The online platform Facebook needs to act against those using it as a marketplace to advertise fake vaccine certificates. Cyrus Vance, New York’s District attorney, made the call when announcing that his force had cracked a ring promoting these documents. Vance was bringing charges against Jasmine Clifford …
As heart-breaking evidence of massacres by the Myanmar Junta hit our TV screens, international efforts to put pressure on these unelected military leaders are completely missing. This is largely because the regional body ASEAN is led by largely autocrat-led states who refuse to back a democratic alternative to the Myanmar military. So …
Terrorist financing in Afghanistan must now be key Western focus Western intelligence services will need to start to wake up to the numerous threats posed by Afghanistan’s Taliban, with an alacrity that they seemed woefully lacking while NATO was [reputedly] trying to build a democratic system in Kabul. Their immediate …
