Author Archives: Nick Corbishley

Following Sunday’s referendum, Venezuela’s Maduro government de facto “annexes” the oil-rich Essequibo region. Guyana calls for help from friends, including US Southern Command. Military exercises are already under way. 

Even by the normal standards of investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS), Pfizer and BioNtech’s lawsuit against the government of Poland for refusing to take delivery of more unwanted vaccines is especially egregious.

As tensions rise in the Essequibo territorial dispute, Brazil sends reinforcements to its northern border, Venezuela holds a referendum on whether to annex the region and Guyana mulls hosting US military bases.

If Pedro Sánchez were to actually deliver on his word (which is a pretty big “IF”), Spain would become only the second country to recognise Palestinian statehood while being an EU Member State

The company that aspires to be inside “every missile,… every drone,” including, it seems, those belonging to the Israeli Defence Forces, is now running the patient data platform of the world’s second largest public health care system. 

Clearly, a majority of voters have had enough of the status quo. What they want is a seismic shift in the underlying political and economic dynamics. And that is what they will get, for better or worse (my money is on the latter).

“This is not the time to turn back on central bank digital currencies,” Kirstalina Georgieva said. At the same time, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is advising the public to “carry some cash” as a contingency for further outages.

Ominously, both the US and the UK are deeply involved in Venezuela’s escalating face-off with neighbouring Guyana. 

Brazil’s Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, claims that all COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be both effective and safe, and that COVID-19 is a vaccine-preventable disease. 

In one fell swoop, roughly 10% of the global population appears to have had some of their most valuable personal identifiable information (PII) compromised. Yet Aadhaar continues to receive plaudits from Silicon Valley. 

“The lack of attention being paid to [public safeguards] at such a crucial time is shocking, and destruction of the surveillance camera code that we’ve all been using successfully for over a decade is tantamount to vandalism.”

“Not only did they hold the line on GM corn planting during five years of hostility from their own government, they also helped open the door to a new government that takes native corn and its protection seriously.”

Creeping censorship, corruption, authoritarianism, economic decline and support for war: these are five of the defining characteristics of the Von der Leyen era. Is it any wonder that internal opposition is on the rise?

Recent developments suggest the trend away from cash and toward central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may not be quite as smooth as some may have wished. 

“If diplomatic relations with Israel have to be suspended, we will suspend them. We do not support genocides,” said President Petro. But hours after expelling Israel’s ambassador, his government reversed course.