A leading cybersecurity expert has described a digital underworld so vast that it has become a multi-trillion-dollar industry. “It’s so bad that sometimes it makes me not want to get out of bed in the morning.” open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #CIAC2026

Street knowledge is often over valued. Working with entrepreneurs has been a life journey - rockstar leading Canadian business leader @arlenedickinson.bsky.social tells #CIAC2026 in Singapore. She’s nurtured countless startups in a country that’s needing to quickly become more aggressive

Donald Trump has threatened to block the opening of a new bridge between the U.S. and Canada if Canadian officials did not address a long list of grievances. More details & analysis here: open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #CIAC2026

Canada reluctant to enter new markets. “Too many are sitting on the sidelines waiting, complaining, hoping things will go back to normal,” @arlenedickinson.bsky.social warns. “They won’t.” She echoes what others say of this era of Trump tantrum diplomacy open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #ciac2026

Donald Trump once again rattling sabres - openly threatening trade disruption & infrastructure leverage, including the Gordie Howe Bridge, one of North America’s most critical commercial arteries. Yet among Canadians there is remarkably little alarm. open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #ciac2026

China 🇨🇳 dominant refiner of 19/20 key strategic minerals and has 70% of market share. Such a huge concentration “is never a good sign” - Sue-Ern Tan, @iea.org #ciac2026

Jimmy Lai’s 20-year term - effectively a life sentence at 78 - marks the moment Beijing made clear that criticism, journalism, and democracy now carry the same cost in Hong Kong as on the mainland open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #JimmyLai

The U.S. sets a June deadline, Russia sells a $12-trillion illusion, and Ukraine endures another night of blackouts - while Trump’s “Board of Peace” looms over the global order open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Voters in Japan are braving frigid temps & snow today to decide whether to give PM Sanae Takaichi a fresh mandate in the nation's lower house election. Meanwhile in Thailand hot temps and a nationwide alcohol ban great voters as they decide lower house elections. My hot take analysis from Thailand

Weekend elections in Thailand, Japan and soon Bangladesh unfold against a grim backdrop: @hrw.org says that a vast majority of humanity now lives under autocracy. open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Overnight , Russian launched a massive drone/missile attack on Ukraine. Regions that came under fire: Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv. Critical infrastructure targeted. Also the main factory of Roshen chocolates owned by former president Poroshenko

The next round of US-brokered peace talks with Russia is “likely” to take place in the United States as officials from both countries wrapped up a second day of renewed negotiations, President Zelensky said open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Russia’s shadow fleet - a largely unchecked lifeline that pumps estimated $150bn/year Kremlin’s war economy, totalling roughly $450 billion since the invasion began. That starkly contrasts with the less than $200bn in EU support provided to Ukraine over same period open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

What I have called a coalition of the unwilling HRW describes more formally as an “alliance of rights-respecting democracies.” The labels differ, but the logic is the same: acting alone leaves countries exposed; acting together creates leverage open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Washington Post Lays Off More Than 300 Journalists - The layoffs cut into The Post’s local, international and sports coverage, and reduced its entire work force by about 30 percent. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

What makes this moment especially perilous is that it still sits below the threshold of open war. President Vladimir Putin has refined a model that spreads fear, drains security resources, and probes Western red lines without triggering a NATO response open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

#BREAKING: Russia said to have used record number of ballistic missiles on five regions to target #Ukraine energy infrastructure amid severe cold snap More details here: open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

If Ukraine’s war has reached New Delhi, it’s not because India chose sides - but because the global system is forcing the issue. Fence-sitting works until it doesn’t. The longer India delays clarifying where it stands, the more its credibility comes into question open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

One of my proudest moments as a Canadian overseas. “We will never allow a bully to bully us. And we will never allow that bully (Donald Trump) to take things away from us that are ours.” Link to full FCC HK ‘Year Ahead’ power panel: youtu.be/uOOxYRgtwKk?...

In the post-pandemic era, public health infrastructure is the next frontier. The risk isn’t a Chinese takeover of global health - it’s fragmentation, with ethics, transparency, and accountability becoming optional add-ons rather than baseline standards open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Markets in Thailand ended 2025 as the worst performer in Asia. The lagging economy one of top-of-mind issues in the ongoing election open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

World Briefing: Thailand Edition - The message is getting louder: young voters are numerous, mobilizing, and increasingly willing to swing elections. Many ruling parties still appear unable - or unwilling - to grasp what that means. open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #Thailand

From a U.S. naval buildup edging toward Iranian waters, to elections unfolding in Myanmar and Thailand, to Western leaders quietly engaging Beijing as China is increasingly framed - rightly or wrongly - as a “responsible” global actor. open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

With widespread layoffs expected at @washingtonpost.com in the coming weeks, teams of reporters are sending impassioned letters to owner Jeff Bezos, urging him not to shrink the newsroom www.cnn.com/2026/01/29/m...

China has executed 11 members of a notorious family that ran scam centres in Myanmar. Beijing is asserting itself as the decisive power shaping the regional response to scam centers, signalling to everyone that involvement - now carries life-and-death consequences open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Amazon sacking 16,000 staff members just as it spends record $35 million - far more than is typical for documentaries - to promote its film about First Lady Melania Trump. An attempt by Amazon to ingratiate itself with Donald Trump? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/b...

Rubio’s “reimagining” of NATO may be Washington preparing the ground for disengagement - or for something more transactional, more conditional, more unilateral. open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

At least 35 injured and three killed in deadly overnight Russian drone attack on the southern #Ukraine port city of Odesa. Today most regions will have more hours of the day WITHOUT electricity than with. Water shortages aggravating situation

Trump’s rhetoric has long promised restraint, retrenchment and an end to endless wars. Another military buildup off #Iran underscores a growing disconnect between the MAGA brand of isolationism and the muscular foreign policy now playing out in real time open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Trump promised restraint, an end to endless wars. But the reality unfolding - now with military buildup near #Iran - tells a different story. It underscores a growing disconnect between MAGA brand of isolationism & muscular foreign policy playing out in real time open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Russia has previously attempted to control @interpol.int: in 2018 for the election of its president, Russia pitched Alexander Prokopchuk, a general in the Interior Ministry. But due to media attention & political pressure, he was defeated by S Korean candidate open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

“Our nation is hurting. People are mourning the loss of two lives at the hands of immigration agents in Minneapolis. There is confusion and fear as to the legalities at hand. Let’s be clear: This level of violence is not normal” - American Bar Association statement #Minneapolis

China launched its most consequential military shake-up in decades, placing Zhang Youxia - Xi Jinping’s closest uniformed ally & vice-chairman of Central Military Commission - under investigation, alongside Liu Zhenli, PLA’s top operational planner open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

World Briefing: TG638 - Bangkok to Hong Kong. The perfect setting as it mirrors the pace of the world right now: you go to bed thinking the headline is Ukraine, Iran, or Greenland… and you wake up to Afghanistan, China or another flashpoint entirely open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

#BREAKING Donald Trump threatening 100% tariffs on all Canadian goods entering US if Canada "makes a deal with China.” Threat comes after PM Mark Carney delivered a speech in Davos viewed as pushback on US actions & hours after Trump insulted families of allied soldiers killed in Afghanistan

World Briefing: Sometimes the most relevant stories are far away from the red carpets and crystal glasses… Get the independent scoop: open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #Davos #WEF

Yes, @who.int needs reform. Yes, it can be bloated and slow. But weakening the one institution built to coordinate the next unknown unknown doesn’t punish bureaucracy - it punishes preparedness open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #Davos #GlobalHealth

US has now formally completed its withdrawal from @who.int - a rupture in a 78-year relationship that leaves Washington walking away with more than $130 million in unpaid dues and no apparent intention to settle the bill open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #wef #Davos2026 #Davos

Russia, which launched deadliest war in Europe since WWII, invited as founding member of Trump “Board of Peace.” It proposes using frozen sovereign assets to pay $1bn entry fee. Meanwhile my country, Canada, which has stood shoulder to shoulder w/USA, incl 9-11 and conflicts, was disinvited #davos

Trump’s “Board of Peace” was meant to look like statesmanship but it landed like a power play in a peace-plan costume. Originally pitched as an oversight group for Gaza, it’s ballooned: a new global club that might replace UN - maybe even keep him chairman for life open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Trump’s Board of Peace logo is basically the UN logo, except dipped in gold and edited so the world only includes America.

‪Donald Trump just unveiled his so-called Board of Peace. As I just told @cnn.com many of his invitees “wouldn’t look out of place in an orange prison jump suit.” Trump just said: “I like every single one of them - they’re great leaders.” After 3 years though - it’s pay-to-play: $1bn #Davos ‬

Ottawa can’t ignore the question many Canadians are quietly asking: if Greenland is on Trump’s map, could Canada be next? Indeed, Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian Armed Forces have modelled a hypothetical U.S. invasion scenario and how Canada might respond open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

With its rich natural resources, vast Arctic territory, abundant fresh water - and comparatively weak military - Ottawa can’t ignore the question many Canadians are now quietly asking: if Greenland is on Trump’s map, could Canada be next? open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #WEF26 #davos

World Briefing: Germany Edition- Over past 48 hours, Donald Trump has swung his tariff baton like a wrecking ball - threatening closest allies not just with economic punishment, but with a loyalty test: comply, flatter, concede… or pay. open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #WEF26 #davos

Washington’s attention is drifting - with Donald Trump stoking theatrics over Greenland, rather than pushing Russia back from Ukraine and reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank. open.substack.com/pub/worldbri... #wef #davos

#BREAKING Donald Trump says he will "100%" follow through on threats to impose further tariffs if a deal over Greenland not reached. He also responds "no comment" when asked whether he would use force to seize the island. Hot take analysis on World Briefing open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

Looking in the Wrong Direction. That’s the feeling across Europe right now - and even more so here in Ukraine, where powerful Russian drones are increasingly getting through what are usually very effective air defence systems open.substack.com/pub/worldbri...

White House has invited Russian President Putin to join a “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving global conflicts, the Kremlin says. US reportedly inviting countries to join as permanent members if they pay $1bn within first year of joining www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/01/19/p... #WEF

#BREAKING The southern #Ukraine port city of Odesa currently under massive Russian drone attack. Power outages. Explosions near port. Multi story building hit. Dnipro also under heavy attack