Argus Geopolitical Intel

CORONAVIRUS: Trump suggests China released virus in lab ‘mistake’ or worse ... Posted By: Iain Fraser, Consultant Editor - GEOPoliticalMatters.com From his home in Malaga City (Remote) WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has run a thought provoking piece this morning that US President Donald Trump has speculated that China could have unleashed the coronavirus on the world due to some kind of horrible “mistake,” he went on to say that US intelligence agencies are still examining a notion put forward by the president and aides that the pandemic may have resulted from an accident at a Chinese lab. He even went on to suggest that the release could have been an intentional a scenario that we at GEOPoliticalMatters.com have been investigating for some weeks. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the web-hub of the combined US intelligence agencies, said it had ruled out the virus being man-made but was still investigating the precise source of the global pandemic, which ...

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GERMANY: Country bans Hezbollah and raids linked mosques and cultural centres Posted by: Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor From his Malaga Home (Remote) Germany has joined the various European countries by banning Iran backed, Islamist group Hezbollah at the same as using crack counter-terrorist forces to raid several mosques and cultural centres linked to the group throughout the country. While its military wings´ operations were already subject to a ban, until now the political wing of the Lebanese Shia group which is believed to have some 1,000 activists in Germany, was able to operate on German soil. Hezbollah - The "Party of God" exerts considerable power in Lebanon and is known to be a key supporter of its current government. It has been blamed for numerous attacks against Israel, the US and Jewish figures and institutions. Israel has praised the German judiciary´s move and called on the rest of the EU to follow suit.

GEOPolitics Today ...for Thursday 30 April 2020 Posted by: Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor From his home in Malaga City (Remote) CORONAVIRUS: US officials have said that there is "clear cut" evidence that a drug called Remdesivir can help people recover. Remdesivir is an antiviral medication developed by the American biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. It is being studied as a possible treatment for COVID-19. VACCINES: In April 2020, preliminary results showed Remdesivir reduced the time to recovery for people with advanced COVID‑19. Meanwhile, The University of Oxford’s potential Covid-19 vaccine will be manufactured and distributed by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on a not-for-profit basis. The partnership will allow for rapid vaccination around the world if it proves to be effective. Human trials of the vaccine developed by the University started on 23 April, with hundreds of people volunteering to take part in the study which received £20m ($25m) of UK governm...

RAF chief mocks decrepit Russian planes as Typhoons intercept them near UK airspace Posted by: GEO´Newsteam City of London Newsroom (remote) The head of the Royal Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston, has mocked two Russian patrol aircraft as "relics of the Cold War" in a rare public rebuke after British jets were forced to scramble to intercept them. "These Russian bombers are relics of the Cold War, do not comply with international air traffic regulations and are a hazard to civilian and military aircraft," the Chief of the Air Staff said. Despite the global pandemic, the Royal Air Force and our allies continue to ensure Russian  military flights pose no threat to NATO and UK airspace. The Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Typhoon fighters scrambled from an airbase in Lossiemouth, Moray supported by supported by a refuelling tanker aircraft, which flew from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, as the Russian planes, believed to be Tupolev TU-142s [Bear-Fs] flew close to...

CORONAVIRUS:  China the victim rather than the source of coronavirus disinformation GEO´ Newsteam City of London Newsroom Over at the "source" of the outbreak, China’s foreign ministry has strenuously denied claims that it is any way party to a full blown disinformation campaign about the virus. An EU report last week said there was “significant evidence” of covert Chinese operations on social media with security officials in the UK and the US believing that China is deliberately continuing to under-report the true number of deaths from Covid-19. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang defended Beijing's response in Monday's regular press briefing saying "I must stress China is against the creation and spreading of disinformation by any individual or institution," going on to claim that China was a "victim" rather than a "source of disinformation." Image Credit: Cimberley via Pixabay

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GEOPolitics Today ...  Monday, 27 April 2020 By: Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor Reporting from somewhere in Málaga Province (Remote) Good Morning from me, still self isolating in not so sunny Malaga. My team and I have now reorganised ourselves after offering our services and news channels pro-bono to the various organisations who would best benefit from additional publicity. So as from today its back to normal for us and welcome back to my daily review and roundup of the key stories and factors affecting Geopolitics Today on Monday, 27 April 2020. Today I shall be concentrating on UK news. CORONAVIRUS: Of course Coronavirus continues to dominate the World´s media. Some good news for UK readers as PM Boris Johnson returns to work after his r&r subsequent to his contracting Coronavirus. he marked his return with a speech from the Number 10 rostrum urging the UK public not to lose patience with lockdown measures, saying that he refused to "throw away" the public's ...

NORTH KOREA: Reports of Kim Jung-Un´s death have been greatly exaggerated By Iain Fraser - Consultant Geopolitical Editor Reporting from his home in Málaga Kim Jung-Un is"alive and well" amid reports that he had died after "botched" heart surgery required to combat his diet and obesity. While the World´s media has been reporting that "pariah" North Korean leader, Kim Jung-Un has subsequently died (last Saturday - 25/04/2020) after alleged botched heart surgery which apparently had already left him "brain dead" - reliable, albeit unnamed sources, in the South say that the Norths leader is alive and well and has simply been on his holidays. The rumour mill quoted that Kim has not made a public appearance since inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit on 10 April a view that was cemented by Kim´s conspicuous no-show at the 15 April celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North's founder, a key anniversary, which i...

ECONOMY: The Geopolitical impact on Global Banking & Financial Institutions By: Andrew Lawrence - GEO´ News Team City of London Newsroom Recent analysis conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [https://www.oecd.org/about/] that recently featured in The Guardian clearly indicates that a “no-deal Brexit” situation—in which the UK would withdraw from the European Union without any trade deals, which is looking increasingly likely, in place—stands to cut UK economic growth by 3 per cent over the next three years, compared with 0.6 per cent in the rest of the EU. Not surprisingly, this is information that every bank, finance house and investment company needs. But what of the political news in other regions, areas that may offer new business and expansion opportunities? In many ways, geopolitical issues are just as important as local economic trends. For example, banks looking to do business in the US need to be aware of its debt ceiling and the p...

Beyond Crisis: Renewable Energy for a Low-carbon Future Newsroom Team - City of London Newsroom The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has published its Global Renewable Outlook outlining the path to creating a sustainable future energy system. The flagship report highlights climate-safe investment options until the year 2050.  The analysis from IRENA builds on their earlier Global Energy Transformation report and outlines the investments and technologies needed to decarbonise the energy system in line with the Paris Agreement. It also explores deeper decarbonisation options for the hardest sectors, aiming to eventually cut carbon dioxide (CO2)emissions to zero. Key Findings     •    The Outlook’s energy transformation would cut 70% of the world’s energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050. Over 90% of this reduction would be achieved through renewables and energy efficiency measures.     •    A n...

The Berber factor in the geopolitics of Africa: separatism and Western influence Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor City of London Newsroom United World have produced a thought provoking article examining the Berber factor and its effect on the Geopolitics of Africa. As an avid commentator on Africa, I found this in-depth report both illuminating and thought provoking, taking that should be the raison d'être for all editorial pieces, United World have definitely done their job. The Berber population of northern Africa, is estimated at around 50 million people. The group factors heavily into a number of armed conflicts in the region and has recently begun to manifest as a factor in the activities of political movements and NGOs. During the events of the Arab spring of 2011, Berber flags began to appear at protests in North African countries. The constitution of 2011, adopted as a result of protests in Morocco, officially recognized the Amazigh language. That same year in Algeria, the ...

BITCOIN – A Hedge Against Geopolitical Risk? By: Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor Malaga Technology Centre So is Bitcoin really a hedge against Geopolitical Risk? Steve Anderrson explores the links in his latest piece he uncovers a recent study has shown Bitcoin as a hedge fund that is against geopolitical risk. The very first research paper that studied the relation of Bitcoin and Geopolitical risk (GPR) has been published, and the paper shows that there is a very significant relationship between the two. The conclusion in the research paper is that only bitcoin has been correlated to the GPR index of Caldara and Iacoviello of the year 2018. This index shows the level of geopolitical risk by being able to calculate the number of geopolitical events that occurred around the globe and appeared in the news. It takes all the leading newspapers of the world to use their reporting as it’s the source of information. The research had included five cryptocurrencies in its study, and these incl...