It doesn’t take an expert in international relations to know that tensions are high in the Persian Gulf. There is a lot of speculation over the possibility of war, and how such a war may break out. Some believe that the United States or Israel will strike first in attempt to knock out Iran’s nuclear facilities. Others think that Iran might act preemptively if it believes Israeli or American action to be imminent. According to InTrade*, an online prediction market, there is a 40% chance that Israel or the United States will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities by year’s end. Moreover, Iran has indicated that a strike against its nuclear facilities would provoke a massive retaliation that could engulf the entire region in war. As such, the risk of war in the region is very real and perhaps, very near. Continue reading
On June 8th, US Attorney General Eric Holder directed two special prosecutors to investigate a recent spate of intelligence leaks. Republicans have, for some time, criticized President Obama for the poor handling of classified information. Some have even asserted that the White House deliberately leaked intelligence in order to garner some type of political gain. It has yet to be determined whether the recent security breaches are the fault of the administration or simply the irresponsible actions of a few rogue politicos and bureaucrats. What is certain, however, is that the frequency of high-profile intelligence leaks has grown over the years, posing a significant threat to national security. Several recent incidents help illustrate this trend. Continue reading
Most media outlets have covered the increasing violence in Mexico that has resulted from the Mexican government’s decision to assertively confront the drug lords. Since 2006, almost 50,000 people in the country have died in drug-related violence. In fact, 120 American citizens were murdered in Mexico in 2011 alone. As a result of this violence, many tourists have postponed or canceled their trips to Mexico.
Although the danger in Mexico is very real, there are still many safe tourist destinations in the country. After all, Mexico is a large nation. It has over 100 million citizens and is about a fifth the size of the United States in land area. In a country this immense, it would be wrong to assume that the entire nation is wracked with violence. In fact, fewer than 5% of Mexico’s municipalities have been affected by the drug war. While areas of Mexico’s north and southwest coast tend to be violent, many tourist destinations continue to be safe. Moreover, there is no evidence that narco-traffickers are targeting American citizens or other travelers. In fact, most violence seems to be directed at the Mexican government and competing criminal elements. Continue reading
In another post addressed the importance of applying the principles of duty of care to traveling employees as well as employees in the permanent workplace. We discussed how duty of care for traveling employees makes not just good moral sense, but good business sense as well. In this post, we will be taking an in-depth look at the legal ramifications that can arise if companies fail to fully embrace their duty of care obligations. Continue reading
On April 24, hundreds of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators converged on San Francisco to protest the annual Wells Fargo shareholder meeting. The protestors gathered to oppose, what they felt to be, Wells Fargo’s excessive executive pay and high rate of home foreclosures. About 30 activists were able to gain access to the meeting and disrupt its proceedings. The next day, a similar protest was held in Detroit outside of General Electric’s shareholder meeting. Regrettably, these two demonstrations do not look like isolated incidents. The Occupy movement is planning a series of similar events across the country in more than 115 cities.
Demonstrations and political protests have the capacity to harm companies on a number of fronts. Not only do they disrupt corporate operations, they also often result in reputational harm. In extreme cases, they have the potential to cause significant property damage and may even threaten the safety of personnel. However, there are a number of things firms can do in order to mitigate the risk caused by protestors. Continue reading