Nicaragua

Brazil’s about ready to poke out the “Five Eyes”

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A Twitter wag asked today why Glenn Greenwald doesn’t just unload all his Snowden-endowed dirt on who is spying on Brazil in one article. I thought of the old journalistic saw: “Why to sell newspapers, of course.” Sounds quaint, eh?

The Canadians reportedly busted open encryption to have their way with Brazil’s mining ministry. We’d already heard that the NSA spied on Petrobras and President Rousseff’s inner circle. Still to come: Details on how Brazil spies on its citizens. Have patience. Brazilian colleagues are surely working it.

It will be time soon for an update on the divorce Rousseff is preparing from the U.S.-centric Internet. Plenty of experts think that’s a bad idea and will only encourage Balkanization by really nasty regimes already bent on inhibiting the free flow of  information.

 

International Court of Justice sets borders in Colombia-Nicaragua dispute over Caribbean islands

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Colombia’s government is not happy with the outcome of the court’s ruling.  The Hague court delineated a horseshoe around the English-speaking archipelago, which was first settled by Protestants and claimed by Colombia in the early 19th century. President Santos of Colombia, bowing to pressure from environmentalist and local politicians, announced last year would be no oil exploration in the islands’ waters (the reef is a divers’ paradise). All indications are that Nicaragua will drill. A good Oxfam blog posting on the victory against drilling.  And a description of the Old Providence barrier reef at the islands, designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2000.

See also AP correspondent Andrew Selsky’s 2003  piece on the islands.