Ξεκινούν ανοδική πορεία οι στρατιωτικές δαπάνες

Οι παγκόσμιες στρατιωτικές δαπάνες αυξήθηκαν κατά 1% το 2015. Η πρώτη αύξηση των στρατιωτικών δαπανών από το 2011. Η αύξηση αποτυπώνει την συνεχιζόμενη ανάπτυξη στην Ασία και την Ωκεανία, την Κεντρική και Ανατολική Ευρώπη και ορισμένα κράτη της Μέσης Ανατολής. Η μείωση των δαπανών στη Δύση επίσης σταθεροποιήθηκε. Την ίδια στιγμή, οι δαπάνες μειώθηκαν στην Αφρική και την Λατινική Αμερική και την Καραϊβική.  Ως εκ τούτου, η εικόνα των στρατιωτικών δαπανών παγκοσμίως είναι ανάμεικτη.

Iceland PM steps aside after protests over Panama Papers revelations

Iceland’s embattled prime minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, has become the first major casualty of the Panama Papers, stepping aside from his office amid mounting public outrage that his family had sheltered money offshore.

Protests continue in Reykjavík after PM’s resignation.

What was planned as a mass protest in Reykjavik on Tuesday evening turned to muted satisfaction as demonstrators vented their anger following revelations that Gunnlaugsson once owned – and his wife still owns – an offshore investment company with multimillion-pound claims on Iceland’s failed banks.

Morocco’s war on terror and the threat of ISIS

With much of the world´s attention focused on Western Europe and the threat of ISIS, North African states such as Morocco are also facing a difficult internal battle against groups who declare their loyalty to the Islamic State.

Over the past three years, authorities in Morocco have been working vigorously to stamp out the internal threat posed by ISIS and its affiliates. The country is no stranger to terror.

Brussels Attacks: Unresolved Issues

Nothing has changed in EU's security policy since  Paris attacks occurred five months earlier. Even worse, the approach the international community has adopted with respect to security and terrorism has not addressed the roots of the problem nor endeavored to foster a productive debate.

Brussels and Paris are only two among many other places around the world that have been hit by terrorist attacks. From Yemen and Afghanistan to Tunisia, Ankara and Beirut, thousands of people have died. Before and after the rise of ISIS in the Middle East, the major problem of the EU and the United States is the lack of strong cooperation between the national secret agencies and the continuous undermining of education and religious dialogue towards decreasing the powerful effect of extremism and hatred.    

Britain’s Empire of Tax Evasion

There is a temptation, when looking at the astonishing “Panama Papers,” to start by searching for politicians from your own country who are implicated. If you are British and approach the documents in this way, you’ll find slim pickings in the information released so far.

Oil Sanctions Risk Pushing An Unstable North Korea Over The Edge

A new round of United Nations sanctions on North Korea has a lot of loopholes, and China is only enforcing those that hit at Pyongyang’s weapons-making capabilities. The rogue nation, that is once again making nuclear threats, is using its hostage population as a human shield in order to get Chinese oil and food.

In January, Pyongyang conducted its forth nuclear test. In February, it launched a long-range rocket. In early March, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly ordered the military to deploy the country’s nuclear warheads on standby.

WHY THE EU'S MARKET MATTERS TO BRITAIN

Brexit would free Britain to sign bilateral free trade agreements with the ‘BRICS’ emerging economies, the Anglosphere and Japan without having to reach a consensus with 27 other EU member-states. The rest of the world is growing faster than the EU, and it offers opportunities that would make up for any forgone trade with Europe. This means that Brexit would boost the economy in the long term, especially if you throw in some deregulation to boot.

Why don't EU leaders realise that this refugee deal with Turkey is exactly what the people traffickers want?

By any measure, the war waged by the EU against the people smugglers blamed for the refugee crisis has been an abject failure.

Refugees at a makeshift camp near the Greek village of Idomeni; thousands are stranded at the Balkan border AFP/Getty

If sabre-rattling, barbed wire, and naval flotillas and other barriers could disrupt the trade in transporting migrants, this is a war would have been won long ago.

Can Scotland Save Its Oil Industry?

The Scottish city of Aberdeen is built upon the successes of the oil and gas industry. A walk round the city centre reveals the level of investment, with every street festooned with luxury hotels, classy restaurants, and even a golf course, courtesy of Donald Trump.

Recently, however, there has been an increasing sense of uncertainty in ‘the granite city’. At the start of the year, it was reported that the price of crude had slumped to a twelve-year low with the likes of Shell warning of a 50 percent cut in profits. Across the city, oil workers have been facing redundancy from a variety of companies including Petrofac, Gulfmark, ConocoPhillips and Sparrows.

The Rotten Heart of Europe: The rampant dysfunction in Belgium puts us all in danger.

Four days after Belgian police captured suspected Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam in Brussels –triggering a round of congratulatory news conferences in which French President François Hollande deemed the arrest “an important moment” in the fight against Islamist extremism — terror struck the Belgian capital. The Islamic State has claimed another hit on West European soil and here we go again: the gut-wrenching images of panicked people fleeing attack sites, the crushing stories of pain and loss, the displays of solidarity on social media and public buildings across the world, and, once again, the grief, shock, and panic.