Diplomat salary report – 2024

Thousands made the annual pilgrimage to the Berkshire Hathaway AGM on Saturday to hear the latest wisdom from the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett. But they got something else: a live announcement that the 94-year-old is retiring. He’s long shrugged off geopolitics, focusing instead on his value investment philosophy (“buy wonderful businesses at fair prices”) […]

China’s state broadcaster reported (🇨🇳) over the weekend that the nation’s coast guard “implemented maritime control” over Sandy Cay in the Spratly Islands, replete with an image of four servicemen unfurling China’s flag in the sand (see below). Sandy Cay itself is tiny — barely half a basketball court, depending on the tide. So why do this? And […]

For centuries, popes hardly ventured beyond Rome, with the occasional epic exception like Pius VII, who only left town because Napoleon abducted him! But the jet era — and a 1929 treaty establishing Vatican statehood — changed all that. Enter Pope Francis. With a 2013 arrival full of pope-firsts (the first Jesuit, the first from […]

We’ve been writing about bonds before they were the flavour of the week. And events now dictate that we revisit bonds again. Who are we to argue with events, dear Intriguer? Typically if US stocks tank, spooked investors will shift their cash over into bonds — the ultimate safe-haven. Why? When you buy bonds (loan the US government money), […]