Gertler has been under US sanctions for grand corruption since December 2017 secretly suspended under Donald Trump just before he left office and then reimposed by President Joe Biden's administration in March (AC Vol 62 No 5 Bank officials 'expose money-laundering network' & Vol 61 No 16 Fury greets Gertler report)...

The fate of Biti and others had as its backdrop escalating tensions between Zimbabwe and the United States administration of President Joe Biden...

His admission on 23 March followed the visit of United States Senator Chris Coons a special envoy for US President Joe Biden and increasing pressure from the US and the European Union appalled by revelations of atrocities committed by Eritrean and Ethiopian troops and Amhara militia in Tigray (AC Vol 61 No 25 Abiy's mission in Mekelle)...

But incoming President Joe Biden's administration promptly reimposed the sanctions leaving some in Washington DC asking what further action may be taken against Gertler...

Knowing she was fresh from heading up Gavi the Vaccine Alliance half a mile down the road from WTO HQ in Geneva 'Big Pharma' reacted quickly with a high-level lobbying initiative directed to United States President Joe Biden and signed by all the leading manufacturers...

But Libya presents President Joe Biden with the same conundrum as it did his predecessor: how to prevent the Russians gaining a permanent foothold while trying to restrain Turkish ambitions to turn it into a modern-day protectorate...