Topics Archive
Environment - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 24, 2019
Oil Majors thwart Climate Change efforts
A March 2019 report holds that the five largest publicly-listed oil majors are engaged in misleading climate branding and lobbying. Climate change is the difference in the statistical distribution of…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 24, 2019
AG Barr controls Mueller’s investigation
Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation concludes after handing over final report to Attorney General Barr, who controls the outcome of the inquiry. United States’ intelligence agencies believe that…
Geopolitics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 23, 2019
US warns Venezuela
The United States warned of consequences against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro security services if they continue with a crackdown against opposition leader Juan Guaido and his aides. Juan…
Geopolitics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 23, 2019
EU approves Brexit delay
More than 2 million people have signed an online petition urging the government to cancel Brexit, with support rocketing in the wake of Prime Minister Theresa May’s statement. On June 23rd, 2016,…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 23, 2019
The Politics of Golan Heights
President Trump overturned longstanding US policy regarding Israeli occupied Golan Heights to fully recognize ‘Israel’s sovereignty’ over the region Israel seized the Golan Heights, a rocky plateau…
Cyber Security - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 22, 2019
Google fined by EU again
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has been fined 1.5 billion euros for anti-trust violations after a competition probe ruled that the dominant search group had spent 10 years blocking rival online…
Elections - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 22, 2019
Thai military junta plays kingmaker
Current Thai election laws help skew the outcome of the March 24, 2019 elections likely consolidating Prayut Chan-ocha’s position as Prime Minister. The Kingdom of Thailand is a Southeast Asian…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 22, 2019
IRGC explores oil potential
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are looking to fill a vacuum in the energy sector created by western companies that pulled out of the Islamic republic following the reimposition of US sanctions. The…
Indian Economics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 22, 2019
Reliance circumvents US sanctions
Reliance’s circumvention of US sanctions meets legal requirements and is likely geared towards a weaning period in light of further sanctions against Venezuela. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 22, 2019
Kazakh President Resigns
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev has announced his retirement after 30 years in power. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 22, 2019
Brexit gets messy
For more than two years, British Prime Minister Theresa May has been looking for a pair of exit ramps — one to successfully navigate her country out of the European Union, as called for by voters in…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 21, 2019
India’s economic woes
India’s economy expanded by 6.6 percent during October-December, the lowest in five quarters, on weak consumer demand and investments, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he seeks a…
Geopolitics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 21, 2019
Europe expected to counter China
European countries are expected to increasingly engage China over the South China Sea. The South China Sea is at the heart of a territorial dispute between China, a number of Southeast Asian nations…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 21, 2019
Germany cuts on defence spending again
Berlin had already announced that it will fall significantly short of NATO’s defence spending goals, annoying the United States. It now risks provoking Washington further by failing to reach even its…
Geopolitics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 21, 2019
Trump and Bolsonaro’s North-South ‘Axis’
Bolsonaro and Trump’s comradery boosts the Brazil-US relationship, although a NATO membership is unlikely. Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country in the world and the sixth most populous. Its…
Geopolitics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 21, 2019
US airstrikes kills civilians?
For years, the Pentagon has maintained that no civilians have been killed in American airstrikes and raids in Somalia. Amnesty International, in a new report released on March 19 2019, put the death…
Geopolitics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 20, 2019
India’s crackdown in Kashmir continues
Military roadblocks on Kashmir’s main highway are delaying ambulances carrying patients and leading to confrontations with motorists that occasionally turn physical, residents and medical staff say,…
Geopolitics - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 20, 2019
US applies pressure on multilateralism
The US, viewing its sovereignty as above reproach, seeks to delegitimize the relevance of the ICC and other international institutions. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a permanent…
World - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 20, 2019
Japan revamps its immigration system
Buoyed by hopes of higher wages yet burdened by loans, Vietnamese youth will be among those most affected by a new scheme to let in more blue-collar workers that kicks off in April 2019. Japan is an…
General Interest - Analyses & Assessments - Mar 20, 2019
Kabul’s expanding ‘green zone’
The ‘Green Zone’ in Kabul is the walled-off compound of embassies and newsrooms, which is set to expand dramatically. It already imposes extreme limitations on its sheltered residents and stokes…