CIA proxy interferes in Nicaragua
Nicaragua, situated between Honduras and Costa Rica on the strip of land which runs from Mexico to the land mass of South America, is in what the US regards as its ‘back yard’. US political interference in the countries immediately to its south, particularly in the second half of the last century, are well documented. Starting with the Bay of Pigs attempted invasion of Cuba in 1961, the US invaded the Dominican Republic in 1965, Grenada in 1983 and Panama in 1989. This century and this year, US incursions have continued with the abduction of Venezuela’s president Nicholas Maduro and his wife by US forces in January. The US has also imposed punitive sanctions on Cuba. It would now appear that the Trump administration has turned its sights on Nicaragua. Justin K P writing as The Dissident, describes how an attempt to undermine the administration of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government is being coordinated by the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA proxy.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Egypt’s water shortage
On 19 July, Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty described his country’s water security as an “existential issue”. Egypt depends heavily on water from the Nile for all its needs but factors such as climate change and population growth have created a water deficit. An additional cause is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) upstream from Egypt which is seen as a significant factor in the existential threat referred to by Egypt’s foreign minister. This is a worrying development given the prediction from numerous official bodies and foreign policy experts that wars are likely to break out in future over water scarcity. In a recent article for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Thomas Rijntalder looks at the GERD issue, the historical and current situation and scenarios of how any dispute escalation or its resolution might develop.
Migrants flee South Africa in response to xenophobic violence
Since its emergence from the white apartheid era and colonial rule in 1994, South Africa has enjoyed reasonable industrial and economic success relative to other African countries. South Africa is for example the world’s largest producer of platinum group metals, gold and chromium, as well as having textile, iron, steel and commercial ship repair sectors. This relative success has prompted immigration from other African states such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. However historically South Africa has always had high unemployment and the recent influx of immigrants has drawn attention to this with many South Africans conflating the two. In early 2026, the country’s national statistical agency estimated that there were 3.3 million immigrants, or roughly 5.2% of the country’s 62 million population. Some of the incomers, including employed ones, are undocumented, a fact acknowledged by South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa in a televised national address in June. The response from South Africans has been the rise of violent vigilante groups targeting immigrants. In an article for El Pais International, Lola Hierro describes the current state of affairs, its history and the impact xenophobic violence has had on immigrants she has interviewed.
China regulates AI
Artificial intelligence technology or AI came to mainstream prominence for social media users in the mid-2000s, when Facebook started using machine-learned algorithmic sorting of content, with other platforms like Tik-Tok and Twitter following suit. Many will now also be familiar with AI systems such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Commentators have for some time been warning of the dangers of AI, whether it is in the form of robo-dogs used by law enforcement, its use in military targeting systems, or simply as a means of misinformation to portray events that never happened. A hilarious example of the latter was an apparent ‘punch up’ between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval office. Going further back to what might be considered a prescient portrayal of AI, some readers may also remember Stanley Kubrick’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which we see “Hal” the online computer in control of the spaceship Discovery, turning against its crew members. So, AI presents both opportunities and risks. No doubt taking such factors into account, China has for some time been putting an AI regulatory framework in place and intends at some point to pass comprehensive AI legislation. In a legal briefing, Sarah Rhao, a partner at Rimon Law sets out China’s regulatory response to recent AI developments and the significance of proposed new rules as of July 2026.
US senate rejects controversial defence bill
The US National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) is an annual piece of legislation passed by US legislators. The NDAA maps out priorities for the US Department of Defence and their funding. The NDAA for 2027 was laid before the US congress on 13 May. Section 224 of the NDAA 2027 (renumbered in later drafts of the act Section 219 and appearing in the senate as Section 1217), controversially proposed greater cooperation between the US and Israeli military establishments across a wide range of areas from manufacturing to intelligence sharing. Some legislators flagged this provision as an effective ‘integration’ of the two countries’ respective military infrastructures, with adverse implications for US sovereign integrity and future freedom of action in foreign policy. Nevertheless, the act including the contentious section was passed by the US congress on 22 July by a majority of 213 to 207 and then forwarded to the US congress which rejected the bill by a majority of 50-46. This followed defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s testimony at a senate appropriations committee on 21 July focusing on the administration’s $87.6bn supplemental spending request, (in addition to the €1 trillion NDAA budget) ostensibly for the Iran war. Hegseth came in for withering criticism from members of the committee. Writing for Al Jazeera, Tamara Khandaker gives more background on the senate decision.
The disingenuous narrative about Ukraine
Since the start of the Ukraine Russia conflict, the collective political narrative of the west, including NATO, has been that Ukraine with western help will prevail. Ukraine’s use of drone technology does seem to have caused problems for Russia, however John Mierscheimer, an acknowledged foreign policy expert on the conflict, has said that this is only likely to be temporary and that Russia is heading for what he calls an “ugly victory” followed by a ‘frozen conflict’. This would not seem improbable given what is known about Ukrainian troop recruitment problems. In an article for the New Left Review, Lily Lynch assesses political developments in Ukraine, the current state of play of the conflict and its cost to both sides.
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