Geopolitical Monitor - Region: Latin America

Mar. 3rd (Merco Press) - Defense spending on protecting the Falkland Islands has plunged by 50% cent in just six years, it was claimed by a report in London’s Daily Mail.

Mar 1st. (CBC News) - One man was reported shot and killed, and about 160 people were arrested as police tried to control post-earthquake looting in parts of Chile.

On February 22 two major developments occurred in the Americas south of the Rio Grande. The two-day Rio Group summit opened in Mexico and Great Britain started drilling for oil 60 miles north of the Falklands Islands, known as Las Malvinas to Argentina.

Feb. 3 (Bangkok Post) - The economic crisis of 2008-09 appears to be over, but along the way it has transformed the shape and dynamics of the global economy.

Feb. 3 (Al Jazeera) - A roadside bomb has killed at least eight people, including three US military personnel and four school girls, near a girls' school in northwest Pakistan.

A Haiti drama is in full play for control of what geophysicists believe may be one of the world’s richest zones for hydrocarbons-oil and gas outside the Middle East, possibly orders of magnitude greater than that of nearby Venezuela.

Jan. 28 (Al Jazeera) - Control over some of Afghanistan's provinces is to be handed over to the Afghan government by the end of 2010, according to foreign ministers attending a one-day international conference in London.

Jan. 28 (Financial Times) - Brazil, Russia, India and China have issued a record amount of equity since the start of the year, as the so-called Bric countries have rushed to take advantage of increased appetite for emerging market assets.

Jan. 25 (Press TV) - The London conference on Afghanistan is likely to add five more years to the serving time of British troops in the war-torn country, according to a leaked document.

ISTANBUL, Jan.25 (Dawn) - The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan meet in Turkish-sponsored talks here Monday to discuss cooperation against extremists and improve ties poisoned by the insecurity plaguing their rugged border.