Cold War : The CIA Says it Blew up a Russian Gas Pipeline in 1982 with Canada’s Help – Fact or Fiction?

Tweet The true but untrue tale of spies, murder, economic warfare, and sanctions Introduction In 2004, a most unusual story appeared in a spy book written by a person named Thomas Reed (“Reed”), who worked at the US National Security Council. The unusual story was that the CIA blew up a Russian natural gas pipeline […]

US Department of Defence announces new Arctic strategy unit

Tweet Climate change is key driver for military Arctic visibility Climate change and Arctic Last week, the US Department of Defense announced the establishment of new unit in the Pentagon, the “Arctic Strategy and Global Resilience Office,” situated in Alaska, to build preparedness to address climate change, and strategies to defend the Alaska Arctic-fronting coast.  After the […]

China grappling with HFT activities run by foreign firms in its capital markets

Tweet China’s influential newspaper Caixin, recently investigated the renewed use of high-frequency trading (HFT) in China’s futures market, operated by foreign companies that, it reports, are incorporated under fictitious corporate purposes. According to Caixin, some HFT firms are ostensibly registered to engage in the trading of physical goods in China, when in reality they are […]

Lessons from the Russian Ten

Tweet Since the FBI released parts of its file on the Russian Ten investigation in 2011, and CBS “The FBI Declassified” covered the story in depth this October, the public has gained a better window of visibility on one of the longest, deepest covert operations ever carried out by a foreign government in the US, […]

Narco subs, drug cartels and Canada – new threats on the horizon to international security

Tweet Narco subs In the last few months, an increasing number of so-called narco subs, also called drug subs, have been intercepted in international waters by law enforcement (“LE“). A narco sub is usually a self-propelled semi-submersible (“SPSS“) used by drug traffickers to transport large quantities of illegal drugs for cartels to an international market. […]

Report on illicit transfer of funds out of Russia

Tweet Global Financial Integrity has released an interesting study detailing the illicit flow of funds from Russia to other countries. The highlights of the study entitled “Russia: Illicit Financial Flows and the Role of the Underground Economy”, available here, are that: From 1994 – 2011, Russia lost US$211 billion in illicit cash outflow; Most of […]