Recently in South America Category

Nearly two years after the worst accidental offshore oil spill in the history of the energy industry, some of the biggest companies in the world are busy pointing their legal fingers at one another in court over who has to pay what in claims, damages and fines over the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A federal judge this week ruled that BP is still obligated to a clause in its contract with Transocean that would protect the rig owner from damages related to the spill. That means BP still has to shell out money to settle claims filed by those along the southern U.S. coast impacted by the spill. BP, meanwhile, is suing Halliburton, something Halliburton said was ridiculous. If the legal mess over Chevron's case involving Ecuador is any indication, former BP boss Tony Hayward will be pushing 80 before this gets settled.

Oil gushed from the Macondo well thousands of feet below the surface for most of the summer of 2010 before crews were finally able to control the spill. Fishing lanes were closed and the coastal tourism sector, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, suffered dearly. Eleven rig workers were killed.

A federal report determined a faulty cement barrier was at least one of the underlying causes of the accident. In October, the government outlined seven different violations for operator BP, four for rig-owner Transocean and four for Halliburton, which worked on the cement barrier. BP sued Halliburton, which said it was looking forward to court.

Ecuadorian and U.S. courts were involved in a case that more or less started in the 1970s, depending on which part you examine, when Chevron was accused of dumping billions of gallons of untreated wastewater into the rainforest. They even made a movie out of it! Both sides are locked in a legal mess that is still in some lower court somewhere hung up on who knows what. While that's the first time an indigenous group managed to sue a giant corporation like Chevron, some legal aspects of the case that began some 40 years ago are still locked in court somewhere and there's no end in sight.

During federal investigations into the 2010 oil spill, all three companies collectively blamed each other for the disaster that prompted Hayward to complain he wanted his life back. BP is unlikely to abandon trying to spread the financial liability anytime soon. If 30,000 Ecuadorians backed by the slick and oh-so persistent Amazon Watch can keep Chevron tied up in court for this long, one can only imagine how long the Deepwater Horizon mess will linger in the courts.

And where's BP now? Why it's busy planning to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, that's where.

Source: http://oilprice.com/

By. Daniel J. Graeber of Oilprice.com

At the best of times, the U.S. government is regarded as somewhat out of touch with what's happening in the American "heartland," much less the world at large, so much so that the phrase "inside the Beltway" was coined to define the syndrome.

But every now and again, an incident occurs that so perfectly encapsulates Washington's self-absorbed navel gazing that little further comment is needed.

On 9 January U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland provided such a "Kodak moment" to the Washington press corps.

The object of her concern? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's visit to Latin America, where he is touring Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Nuland said that, because of its civilian nuclear energy program, which both Washington and Tel Aviv believe masks a covert nuclear program despite persistent denials by Tehran, Iran should have no friends and that "We are making absolutely clear to countries around the world that now is not the time to be deepening ties, not security ties, not economic ties, with Iran."

During a regularly scheduled State Department press briefing Nuland gravely observed that Iran had "obviously carefully" chosen the four countries but "We are, meanwhile, calling on all of these countries to do what they can to impress upon the Iranian regime that the course that it's on in its nuclear dialogue with the international community is the wrong one. And, frankly, we think it's in the interest of all countries, including the countries that he (Ahmadinejad) is visiting in Latin America, that Iran proves the peaceful intent of its nuclear program to the world."

The view from Caracas?

During a meeting with Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tartly accused the U.S. and its European allies of demonizing Iran and using false claims about the nuclear issue "like they used the excuse of weapons of mass destruction to do what they did in Iraq. They (the U.S.) accuse us of being warmongers. They're the threat," adding that Ahmadinejad is traveling through "the axis of evil of Latin America."

Driving the point home, Ahmadinejad commented, "They say we're making a bomb. Fortunately, the majority of Latin American countries are aware. Everyone knows that those words... are a joke. It's something to laugh at. It's clear they're afraid of our development."

What is Venezuela getting out of its dalliance with charter "axis of evil" Iran?

According to Chavez, Iran has helped his country build 14,000 homes as well as factories that produce food, tractors and vehicles. During Ahmadinejad's visit, Iranian and Venezuelan government officials signed two agreements promoting industrial cooperation and worker training.

Why might Venezuela take such an uppity stance against Washington's wishes? Well, for a start the U.S. government was deeply implicated in a failed 2002 military coup against Chavez. And last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA for delivering at least two cargoes of refined oil products to Iran.

From Venezuela, on 10 January Ahmadinejad flew to Nicaragua to attend the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega, elected to a third term last November.

And why might Nicaragua be disinclined to heed Washington's advice? Perhaps the fact that President Ortega was one of the Sandinista leader who in 1979 overthrew the corrupt presidency of Anatasio Somoza, only to find itself under attack by U.S. armed and funded "Contra" insurgents operating out of neighboring Honduras in an eight-year campaign.

And, in one of those piquant ironies of history, the Reagan administration, in order to support the Contras after Congress blocked funding, in 1986-1987 covertly sold weapons for cash to... Iran, leading to the notorious "Iran-Contra" affair.

And Cuba? Well, since the U.S. has blockaded the country with economic sanctions since 1960 and currently has no direct diplomatic relations, perhaps Nuland's entreaties will receive less consideration in Havana than they might.

Which leaves Ecuador, whose president, Rafael Vicente Correa, an economist by training educated in Belgium and the United States, took office in January 2007.

And what has President Correa done to antagonize the U.S.?

In December 2008, he declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate, arguing that it had been contracted by previous despotic regimes, pledging to fight creditors in international courts of jurisdiction. Even worse, Correa in June 2009 brought Ecuador into the Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra America (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas, or ALBA) founded by Chavez in alliance with Cuba in 2004.

The biggest story overlooked by the Washington press corps over the past decade, fixated as it was on the Bush administration's "global war on terror" (GWOT) was Latin America's increasing assertiveness and independence from America's dictates, whose policies towards its southern neighbors even the august Council on Foreign Relations labeled "hegemony." It apparently has yet to occur to either Ms. Nuland or her superiors that countries south of the Rio Grande regard the Monroe Doctrine as a dead letter.

But Ahmedinejad's biggest secret diplomatic weapon is treating his Latin American hosts with respect, as equals. Until those "inside the Beltway" learn that simple lesson and that it's no longer 1823, the year the Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed, it would seem that the Washington press corps is bound to endure further briefings from Ms. Nuland.

Source: http://oilprice.com/

By. John C.K. Daly of oilprice.com

Perhaps the biggest foreign-policy story of the past decade, thoroughly overlooked by the American media after 9/11 and its subsequent monomaniacal focus on terrorism, security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the fact that Latin America has essentially moved away from Washington's influence.

This quiet revolution from below, in rejecting the Monroe Doctrine, first enunciated in 1823 whereby the U.S. essentially barred European powers from influence in Latin America, has essentially for nearly 200 years served as an ideological platform for countless U.S. interventions south of the border but has yet to register on the radar the politicians in Washington.

From Ecuador to Paraguay, Venezuela to Brazil, governments increasingly composed of representatives of the indigenous people, are more and more rebuffing Washington's advice as they seek to determine their countries' futures without undue interference from their giant North American neighbor.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Brazil, which after suffering decades of corrupt government and intermittent military dictatorship in 2003 elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president, who's adroit and progressive policies until he relinquished the proposed last year have laid the foundations for the dramatic rise of Brazil's economy.

President Lula focused on social equality and improving the lot of the nation's poor, and that and other policies such as reining in the rampant inflation that ravaged the country when he took office, saw him leave the presidency with an approval rating of 80 percent, a political achievement unmatched in any other country.

Lula put Brazil's economic interests first and foremost, and spoke his mind prior to a G20 summit in March 2009, when in Brasilia, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown squirming uncomfortably beside him, he addressed the issue of the global recession which had begun the previous year by telling reporters, "This crisis was caused by no black man or woman or by no indigenous person or by no poor person. This crisis was fostered and boosted by irrational behavior of some people that are white, blue-eyed. Before the crisis they looked like they knew everything about economics, and they have demonstrated they know nothing about economics." Challenged about his claims, Lula responded: "I only record what I see in the press. I am not acquainted with a single black banker."

Indirectly addressing the West's and in particular the United States' obsession with security against terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Lula continued, "We do not have the right to allow this crisis to continue for long. We are determined to make sure the world financial system is vigorously regulated. You go to a shopping mall and you are filmed. You go to the airport and you are watched. I can't imagine that only the financial system has no surveillance at all."

Last July while visiting Zambia Lula noted, "We had a debt of $30 billion to the International Monetary Fund but when I took office, we repaid the IMF and we don't owe anymore to the IMF. On the contrary, the IMF owes us $14 billion. We have $250 billion in our currency reserves."

Now the crown jewel in Brazil's economy, the government-managed Petrobras energy company is to build on Lula's sound fiscal foundation and stated that it intends to double its output within the next four years. Furthermore, echoing Lula's reluctance to rely on foreign financial funding, Petrobras said that its plan to more than double oil output will boost the company's cash flow and eliminate the need to tap debt markets in less than a decade, as profits from oil sales will be enough to cover both operating and debt costs, according to Petrobras Chief Financial Officer Almir Barbassa.

Earlier this week Petrobras announced its plans to invest $224.7 billion in increasing production through 2015, more than any other major oil producer in the world, as it develops some of the world's largest discoveries in three decades outside of the Caspian basin.

Barbassa said modestly, "Cash flow will be enough to pay debt amortizations and the investments we will have. Few companies in the world can say this."

A government focused both on social reform and prudent economic policy while the country's largest company purchases a policy of minimizing foreign borrowing through a pay-as-you-go policy - what radical concepts.

It would seem that the future of Petrobras is quite bright, and if Washington bothers to listen to its rising southern economic superpower hemispheric neighbor it might even learn a few things about fiscal accountability, if the Republicans in Congress can be momentarily dissuaded from their efforts to drive America's international credit ratings over a cliff.

Source: http://oilprice.com/

By. John C.K. Daly of OilPrice.com

Slowly but surely, an extraordinarily important new industry is slowly taking shape, with the potential to transform the global economy.

After years of existing largely as an environmentalist's fantasy, commercial production of biofuels for the world civil aviation industry is slowly becoming a fact, with production starting up across three continents.

The leading contenders for biofuel feedstocks are jatropha and camelina, both of which have their fervent supporters. While currently neither is capable of production at a price approaching that of Jet A1 civil aviation fuel derived from hydrocarbons, research and extensive investment are nevertheless investigating the possibilities.

While little is certain in the emerging picture, it is increasingly clear that despite the United States being one of the leading producers currently of renewable energy in the form of ethanol, that the United States nevertheless will be an also-ran in these developments.

In January 2010 Qatar Airways revealed plans to work with Airbus and other Qatari state entities to draw up "a detailed engineering and implementation plan for economically viable and sustainable biofuel production." At an event marking the launch of the Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform consortium, airline chief Akbar al Baker hailed its European project partner as "more proactive than Boeing in experimenting with alternative fuels."

Fast forward to this March, when a European consortium of Airbus, Romanian state-owned airline Tarom, Honeywell's UOP and CCE (Camelina Company España) announced plans to establish a bio-fuel production center in Romania to manufacture civil aviation fuel, using camelina as a feedstock.

Farther east, last month China National Petroleum Corp. announced that it had delivered 15 tons of jatropha oil to help Air China operate the country's maiden biofuel-powered test flight, tentatively scheduled for later this year. According to a posting on its website, CNPC, Asia's largest oil producer, is proving that it has the ability to produce biofuel from non-grain feedstocks to clean up the environment.

On Monday, Mozambique's Agencia Informacao Mocambique news agency announced that Sun Biofuels Mozambique, a subsidiary of U.K.-based Sun Biofuels, has exported the first batch of 30 tons of jatropha oil produced from its fields in the central Mozambican province of Manica to Germany's Lufthansa airline.

The biggest single impetus to the development of biofuels for civil aviation occurred on 8 June, when the international standards certifying body ASTM International announced its approval of its BIO SPK Fuel Standard, to be made official later in the year, allowing the use of hydro-treated renewable jet (HRJ) Jet A-1 fuel in commercial aviation.

Currently these biofuels are "drop ins," and must be blended in a 50-50 mixture with Jet A-1 fuel derived from traditional fossil fuel kerosene.

The biggest single independent meant at present to a wide scale production of jet biofuel is its inordinate cost. Biojet fuel delivered last year to the U.S. armed forces for evaluation cost more than $70 a gallon to produce, a price which obviously makes it at present supremely uncompetitive with fuel derived from traditional hydrocarbon sources. Supporters of biofuel production argue that processing costs will decrease in direct proportion to rising volumes of production.

Both Brazil and the United States have viable biofuel production in the form of ethanol, in the case of Brazil derived from sugar cane, in the United States, produced from corn.

Ironically it is the very success of this production in the United States that will limit the near term growth of an alternative renewable fuels industry, because the ethanol lobby has ensured the farmers not only receive significant subsidies, but crop insurance as well, neither of which is available to other farmers wishing to dabble in the production of biofuel from camelina or other assorted feedstocks. These limitations exist despite the fact that the U.S. is the world leader in camelina research.

What is clear at this juncture however is the fact that renewable biojet fuels have been certified, and furthermore, that production is beginning, albeit at on a limited scale with relatively high production costs.

As noted earlier in this article, a critical momentum is building on three continents to advance production of biofuels, and when major players such as Airbus become involved, the viability of such projects is no longer in question, only the timeline.

Last but not least, an additional benefit of biofuels in a world concerned about global warming and emissions of greenhouse gases is that biofuels reduce carbon emissions by jet aircraft by up to 80 percent.

The technology is in place, the product has been certified, and at the end of the day, one is talking about an agricultural product which, depending on where it is sown, can produce one or even two harvests a year.

While discussion rages about the production of biofuels in poorer nations having the possibility of diverting land needed for food production, in terms of energies impact on the environment, biofuels are certainly more benign than other more traditional forms of energy as evidenced in the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, or more recently, in the March nuclear debacle in Japan.

Biofuels are clean, green, and... for the moment, expensive.

Source: http://oilprice.com/

By. John C.K. Daly of OilPrice.com

According to the U.S. Energy Administration, two months ago the United States total crude oil imports averaged 9,033 thousand barrels per day (tbpd), with the top five exporting countries being Canada (2,666 tbpd), Mexico (1,319 tbpd), Saudi Arabia (1,107 tbpd), Venezuela (930 tbpd) and Nigeria (918 tbpd.)

Notice anything odd about this list? First, three of the top five oil exporters to the U.S. are in the Western hemisphere, and two of them are neighbors.

Secondly, only two of the five states can comfortably be described as stable. Mexico is slowly unraveling due to the drug war, Nigeria's militant regularly attack foreign oil concessions in the Niger delta and Saudi Arabia's geriatric monarchy is nervously watching events unfold in the Middle East, wondering if the "Arab spring" may impact their autocratic hold on power, a view no doubt made more nervous by the sudden arrival on 6 June of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

Of the remaining two, Canada is a stable, prosperous state, and its relations with Washington are excellent.

Which leaves Venezuela - while a stable state, its policies under President Hugo Chávez have rattled Washington to the point that since 2010 neither state has had accredited ambassadors.

On 28 June 2010 President Obama nominated Palmer as U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela but three months later Chávez announced on his weekly TV program that he would not allow Larry Palmer to take up his post after Palmer told a US senator that morale in the Venezuelan army was low and that members of Chávez's government had ties to leftist FARC Colombian rebels. On 28 December Chávez flatly refused to accept Palmer because of his derogatory remarks and the following day the U.S. revoked the accreditation of Venezuelan ambassador, Bernardo Álvarez Herrera.

Worse, on Sunday Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolás Maduro in an exclusive interview with private TV network Televen said, "The relation (with the U.S.) is frozen... It does not move and there is no indication that there could be positive elements of communication and respect in the near future."

What led to the impasse? Chávez's final sin in Washington's eyes was Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) supplying gasoline and other refined oil products to Iran, which led the Obama administration on 24 May to impose sanctions against PDVSA. In response, Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, who is also the head of PDVSA, said the following day that as a sovereign nation Venezuela would continue to maintain relations with Iran and any other country it wanted, adding, "This is a right we are not going to renounce."

Washington's myopia leads it to treat Central and Latin America as if the Monroe Doctrine were still valid. In fact, the most underreported political story in the American press over the last decade is how Latin America has gradually moved out from under Washington's smothering "big brother" embrace as first the Bush administration and now President Obama's fixated on both on the war on terror and Iraqi oil reserves. Most notable among the Latin American states rejecting Washington's dominance, along with its attendant financial institutions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund has been Brazil, which now, along with Russia, China and India, is lumped under the sobriquet BRIC as a collective economic powerhouse of the 21st century.

Can Washington really afford to antagonize a nation that exports nearly a million barrels per day to the U.S.? Should Venezuela turn off the taps, then the recent gasoline prices of nearly $4 a gallon will begin to look like a bargain.

And speaking of China, its economic interest in trade devoid of Washington's hectoring political lectures has found a warm reception in Caracas. China has agreed to provide more than $32 billion in assistance to Chávez's government, with the loans to be repaid in oil, in increasing amounts of it during the next decade. China is now Venezuela's biggest foreign lender, enabling Chávez's to boost social spending ahead of the country's 2012 presidential election, leading Chávez to exclaim "Viva China!" on national television.

Venezuela is now exporting to China about 460,000 barrels a day, about 20 percent of its oil exports, according to official figures, which Caracas hopes to double soon. Chen Ping, political counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Caracas noted simply, "Venezuela has what we need."

Pity that Washington, blinkered by outdated ideology, does not see its own interests as clearly as counselor Chen.

Source: Full article at: www.oilprice.com

By. John Daly for OilPrice.com

Image by thejourney1972 via Flickr

Property purchase offers far greater returns today than most stock market investments and never before has international property been as popular as a highly lucrative means to create wealth. Worldwide property investors are now turning their attention to Brazil as it fast becomes a leader in the field of emerging markets. Returns on investment are considered to be excellent and investors are increasingly aware of the high growth potential that Brazil offers as a stable though fresh, new investment market.

Advantages of Brazil Investment

• Property capital appreciation of 30% per annum in this locations.


• Favorable currency exchange rates, making property transactions cheap for foreign investors.


• President Lula's progressive policies, bringing many improvements to Brazil, including a decrease in inflation to an all-time low at 5.7%.


• Active encouragement and incentives for foreign investment - you can own 100% of land and property.


• Cost of living often 20% of that in the UK/US/Europe and property maintenance costs extremely low.


• Some of the lowest property prices in the world.


• Increase of thriving manufacturing industries relocated to Brazil and boosting the economy.


• Expected self-sufficiency in oil reserves within the next year.


• Some economists believe Brazil is amongst the leaders of the future, along with Russia, India and China.


• Year-round sunshine, with average summer temperatures of 25°C.


• Great natural beauty with fantastic scenery.


• Friendly nature of the Brazilian people.


• Easy access via direct flights from many international airports.

I recently returned to Sao Paulo, Brazil after 6 months in North America, if there were an economic downturn in the rest of the world, they forgot to mention it to Brasileiro's. This country is drunk with economic excess, even the street vendors are upgrading equipment and spending more money than ever to build-up their businesses. The signs of growth are everywhere in this city, especially in the skyline, which is sprouting new high-rise condominiums, like springtime grass on a newly seeded soccer pitch. The economic growth Rio, for a change, is even more accelerated than Sao Paulo.

Brazil's commitment to sport can be seen in the further venue investment that is already under way in Rio. The world-famous Maracanã stadium will close next year for two years of refurbishment. The areas around it will be renovated, with access and transport links improved as the entire neighborhood is reborn ready for host the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Work is already underway on the ongoing development of the Olympic Training Center (OTC), which includes many of the state-of-the-art venues built for the 2007 Pan and Parapan American Games. The OTC will be at the heart of the Rio Games - and international sport for years afterward. Athletes and coaches from all over the world will be offered scholarships to what will be a new regional hub for sport.

With a strong economy and now guaranteed funding, Brazil's economy is now the tenth largest in the world - and predicted to be fifth by the 2016 Olympics. Brazil is the world's second biggest food exporter, one of the world's largest oil and ore producers and the fifth largest advertising market. This diverse economy is the engine that drives South America and one of the world's top 10 consumer markets. Brazil has the highest levels of Internet use in the world and according to the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communication Companies (commonly known as BRASSCOM), Brazil's offshore IT outsourcing market hit $1.4 billion in 2008, rising 75 percent in a single year, making this one of the best places in the world for a web development company.

Experts predict that an additional $500M will be spent just on IT and web development for the FIFA World Cup of soccer in 2014. The overall Latin America market for outsourced services, is expected to grow 12 percent in 2010 to $8 billion, according to Forrester Research. That's on top of the $19 billion that local companies spend on IT consulting services. However, Brazil has approximately 250,000 IT professionals, 23,000 annual IT graduates, and infrastructure capable of supporting double-digit growth, this places Brazil firmly at the heart of the IT services supply chain in the Southern Hemisphere.

In October 2009, a report from Gartner claimed that "Brazil's economic footprint combined with having the largest domestic IT consumption in all of Latin America, as well as international recognition as one of the most promising and rapidly emerging economies, makes it a natural destination to evaluate for IT services.

As Argentina's oil battle with the United Kingdom rages on, the only other obstacle the South American country can throw at oil companies planning to drill near the Falkland Islands is to interdict U.K. ships or equipment - but regional expert Riordan Roett doubts the Argentines are "stupid enough to do that."

This would be a "very dangerous move" on the part of the Argentine government, said Roett, director of Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington. Argentina, which went to war with the U.K. in 1982 over Falklands' sovereignty, is "very careful" about challenging the British in reaching the islands, Roett noted.

The dispute between the old foes erupted in February when U.K.'s Desire Petroleum towed an oil rig from Scotland to the South Atlantic to drill near the Falklands.

Experts tout the area beneath the islands contains as much as 60 billion barrels of crude oil but there are many doubts about this claim.

Geologists and political-risk specialists say such a vast deposit is possible -- after all, the Atlantic Coast downward from Brazil boasts a great deal of oil - but whether the Falklands is the next place to find such resources will be a question mark for "a couple of years," Roett said.

Oil and Latin American experts, moreover, have mixed opinions about whether U.K. oil firms actually need the Argentine government's help to siphon out any oil from the contested waters.

U.K. firms can do without Argentine infrastructure but much will depend on current technologies, Roett argued. If companies can retrieve and pour oil into super tankers, it can then be shipped back to the U.K. or wherever their clients are based "without worrying about Argentina -- unless the Argentinians were stupid enough to try to stop the tankers," he said.

Even if commercially viable oil at current prices or natural gas is found, projects would "somehow require the use of infrastructure in Argentina" such as ports and pipelines, Daniel Kerner, a Latin America analyst at the Eurasia Group in New York, told OilPrice.com. At the very least, he said, this infrastructure would help make the project more viable, otherwise all of the needed equipment would have to be shipped in, he added.

The price of a barrel of oil when potential Falklands' reserves are brought up in another few years will also play into how challenging exploration will be, Roett noted.

"Is it worth the investment? Are there rigs available? The South Atlantic is not a particularly hospitable place to do any kind of deep-water drilling. So we still have to find out whether or not the technology which exists is applicable to the Falklands."

The artificially-engendered revival of the dispute, which began in February 2010 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, has been portrayed as a posturing by embattled Argentine Pres. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, taking advantage of both the start of exploratory oil and gas drilling by British company Desire Petroleum in the Falklands waters, and the talks by Latin American and Caribbean leaders of the Rio Group in the Mexican resort of Playa del Carmen, beginning on February 22, 2010. But the crisis may well play into the political posturing of equally embattled United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who faces a general election by June 2010 at the latest.

Britain's presently governing Labour Party is as conscious -- almost superstitiously so -- of the fact that the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina revived the flagging fortunes of incumbent Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, just as the US Democratic Party is fixated on the belief that Democratic Pres. Lyndon Johnson failed to win a second term in office because of being embroiled in the Vietnam War. As a result, the British Labour Party is unlikely to attempt to quell the dispute in the short term between the UK and Argentina, even though it plays strongly into the hands of Pres. Fernández de Kirchner.

The increasingly leftist bloc within Latin America, prompted and often financed by Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chávez Frias, obliged Pres. Fernández on February 22, 2010, in Mexico by endorsing her attacks on the UK position and the assertion of Argentine sovereignty over the Falklands. It is clear, however, that Argentina's population and Armed Forces are in no position to resume any form of military conflict with the United Kingdom over the Falklands, even though British forces are themselves stretched by engagement in Afghanistan.

Argentina signed an agreement with the Bahamas Thursday to share banking information as the country tries to tighten the noose on Argentines with cash hidden in overseas tax havens. Similar agreements were recently signed with Costa Rica, Andorra and Monaco. The deals are designed to stop tax evasion and fraud by exchanging tax information, lifting banking secrecy and allowing agents to conduct investigations overseas.

Continue reading: Argentina, Bahamas Sign Banking Information Agreement

Bermuda Signs Tax Agreement with Belgium

Bermuda has reached an agreement with Belgium to exchange information about criminal and civil tax matters. Benefits for the island from this tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) is a commitment by Belgium to conclude a series of mini double taxation agreements.

Continue reading: Bermuda Signs Tax Agreement with Belgium