Author Archives: Nick Corbishley

Washington has intensified its Latin American charm offensive (onus on the word “offensive”) by warning of the dangers posed by China’s increasing use of “debt trap” diplomacy in the region.

Concerns are rising about the EU Commission’s ongoing opacity over its relations with Pfizer. But this is not the first time von der Leyen has been caught deleting sensitive information regarding deals with large corporations.

After Turkey’s official inflation rate surged above 70% in May, some global companies, including the British consumer goods giant Unilever, have begun applying hyperinflation accounting to their Turkish operations.

In a move that has already raised hackles in Washington, Nicaragua’s government has renewed a decade-long military partnership with Russia. 

The World Bank and its partners “argue that investing in digital ID systems is paving the road to an equitable digital future.” But instead “they may well be paving a digital road to hell.”

The Mexican government’s legal action against Vulcan has drawn accusations of “anti-business attitude[s] and rhetoric” from both sides of the US Senate.

For the first time in a very long time, central bankers are coming under friendly fire as they lose control over some of the economic forces they themselves have helped to generate. 

“Seldom in the history of Spanish diplomacy… has a foreign policy initiative had such disastrous results,” as Spain loses its grip on diplomatic relations with Algeria at the worst possible moment.

As recent events in Germany (and elsewhere) have shown, even strong proponents of a cashless economy have an interest in safeguarding the future of cash, if only for the sake of financial stability. 

Neither airports nor airlines in the UK have restored enough capacity into their operations to handle the predictable surge in passenger numbers as the skies reopen.

The EU’s latest hare-brained gambit is likely to put further downward pressure on economic activity while exerting further upward pressure on inflation, which is already at or around decades-highs in most places.

“If the US assumes that it has staunch allies [in Latin America], it is making a big mistake.”

The Conti Group’s cyberattack on Costa Rica continues to metastasize, spreading to 27 government institutions, nine of which have been “seriously affected.”

The roll-out of biometric-authenticated payments is merely the latest example of the accelerating encroachment of biometrics into everyday life. But a global push back is gathering.