Geopolitical Monitor - Situation Reports - Geopolitical Analysis on Pressing Geopolitical Issues in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East

C.I.A. interrogators used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique that top Obama administration officials have described as illegal torture, 266 times on two key prisoners from Al Qaeda, far more than had been previously reported.

The United States and Cuba have exchanged high-level diplomatic overtures for the first time in decades.  Although both countries’ highest officials are publicly delivering the ‘warmest’ words exchanged with each other in two generations, concrete steps have yet to follow, and no plan for furthering the thaw has yet emerged.

The government is using secretive prison facilities on U.S. soil, called Communication Management Units, to house inmates accused of being tied to “terrorism” groups. They overwhelmingly include Muslim inmates, along with at least two animal rights and environmental activists.

The Department of Defense has submitted an annual report on the military power of the People’s Republic of China to Congress.  The progress outlined within the report suggests that China is well on the road to becoming a de facto regional military power in East Asia.

Protests against Moldova's Communist rulers are the latest threat to stability on the European Union's eastern border but the bloc is wary of wading into a row that could stoke wider tensions with Russia.

An informed source close to the investigation of Sir Allen Stanford’s failed Stanford Financial Group and Stanford International Bank has told WMR that there is another link between Stanford’s activities and those of jailed Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff. 

At the G20 Summit, U.S. President Barack Obama rejected proposals for change to the global financial system, ensuring a continuation of American global economic hegemony.

The staggering reach of the recently discovered ‘GhostNet’ suggests a new realm of possibilities for international cyberspace espionage. But, who are the Ghosts?

Thousands of people from a large range of groups including anti-capitalists, environmental activists and those angry at the global economic downturn are protesting in London in advance of Thursday's G20 summit.

The US press and government appear to have launched a public opinion campaign over the past few months focusing on the latest alleged threat to national security.