It never ceases to amaze real investors why respected organisations trot out the so-called "Doing Business" type reports, which contain soothing words of comfort that mask a nation's potential suitability for foreign direct investment.

It comes as no surprise that Moody’s Investors Service has slashed its rating of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) from AAA to AA1.

The handling of the dispute between the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and the United States of America by the World Trade Organisation has been well-documented elsewhere.

A new law was discretely introduced by the United States Government on 29 April 2008 – Denial of Visas to Confiscators of American Property.

A vital piece of legislation put forward by Republican Congressman Andy Barr is sweeping through the legislative process of the United States almost unnoticed. It quickly achieved Congressional support...

According to the CAFT/GAFIC Antigua & Barbuda Ministerial Report dated 23 June 2008, entitled "Mutual Evaluation/Detailed Assessment Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism", the Attorney General is the competent person responsible for coordinating requests from overseas regulators and enforcement agencies. It further states:

So, The World Bank’s Doing Business 2013 has demoted Antigua and Barbuda’s ranking from its 2012 standing of 57 to a new low of 63.

The Congressional Record of the Congress of the United States of America is a permanent history of official actions, decisions and debates by the members of that governing body.

Antigua & Barbuda’s application for entry onto the UK’s extremely valuable White List was rejected in 2007.

Is it noble or reckless for aid or support agencies to spend public money to try to entice fresh and, possibly naïve, inward investment into a country that expropriates foreign owned private property and steadfastly refuses to pay any compensation over a period stretching more than a decade?

Antigua's Director of Gaming, Kaye McDonald has announced that Leroy King, longstanding CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission has been sent on 55 days leave following the collapse of Stanford's global empire.

When a state passes a law that allows an independent body to become above its national and constitutional control it is a time for concern.

H.M.B. Holdings Limited has appealed the valuation of the Board of Assessment for the Half Moon Bay property, which the Government of Antigua has finally expropriated and taken over in July 2007.

Having hounded and driven out the editors of Caribarena.com amid death threats, cyber-attacks and intimidation, and having jailed the internationally recognised local journalist Ian "Magic" Hughes on trumped up charges, ...

Sadly, the tragic death of two young people, who had chosen Antigua as their honeymoon destination and who were murdered in their luxury hotel room during the early morning hours of July 29th comes as no surprise to those who have witnessed the decline of Antigua over the last decade.

The Government has never offered to purchase the property, the Half Moon Bay Resort, which includes a beach front hotel surrounded by 108 acres of amenities, golf course, estate and development lands. Between nature's gift and its owners' care, the property has been acknowledged by the Travel Channel in 1999 as being set on the best beach in the world.

After sixteen months of power, The Government of Antigua & Barbuda, led by the United Progressive Party under the stewardship of the Honourable Baldwin Spencer, has once again sent mixed signals on its adoption of international good practice with regard to foreign direct investment.

Another name now looks like being added to the growing list of banks that have moved to protect their brands and their own institutions by de-risking.

As regulators in the Caribbean and Latin America scramble to cope with the shock announcements that powerful United States Authorities are investigating a significant financial institution with a major presence in the region, are they fit for purpose?

For ten years the Government of Antigua & Barbuda has avoided the payment of compensation for its expropriation of the private property known as Half Moon Bay Resort.