Mexico and Latin American Links 3/16/2013

• Knights Templar Leader, El Tio, Reported Killed
• More must be done to arrest Caribbean drug trade says US

Balkanization of the Balkans 3/16/2013

• Wild Dogs Still Plague Romanian Capital

European Crisis 3/15/2013

• Spain a ‘major money laundering centre’
• Two guerrilla groups claim responsibility for Athens bomb attack
• Greek Long Term Jobless Rate at 60%
• Greece: Anarchists Target Judges, Cops, Witnesses

West African Links 3/15/2013

• Maghreb/Sahel nations join ‘Saharan Express’ exercise to combat terrorism, trafficking
• Africa Destined to Bleed Yet More! Any Remedy?
• Nigeria: Why Boko Haram Insurgency Escalates - Emir of Anka

  "The security agencies are to be blame for the escalation of the Boko Haram sect. Where were the security agencies when the sect members are importing guns? Where were they when they were training their members in Somalia? The security agencies should have pre-empted all these," he said.

• Mali's Bad Trip: Field notes from the West African drug trade.

Balkanization of the Balkans 3/15/2013

• New Bulgaria Govt Takes Office Amid Protests
• Kosovo Stages Mass Protest Over Corruption
• New Food Scandal Threatens Romania

Balkanization of the Balkans 3/14/2013

• Bulgaria’s Revolt Against Consensus
• A Balkan dysfunction: Politicians need to work together if Bosnia is to join the European Union
• Bulgaria’s caretaker promises spell of stability before uncertainty descends again

European Crisis 3/14/2013

• Greece, Troika Talks Break Down, Loan Put Off
• More Bombing Of Greek Political Offices
• Greek Unemployment Rate Hits 26.4 Percent
• EU Considers $13 Billion Bailout for Cyprus
• A flawed temple: The loss of legitimacy may now be the biggest threat to the European project
• "Abolish austerity" Brussels protesters tell EU leaders

West Africa Links 3/14/2013

• Insight: Islamist inroads in Mali may undo French war on al Qaeda – Reuters
• Christians in Libya being rounded up and beaten
• Who’s on First? Or Why Fences Matter More Than Al-Qaeda in Mali
• US: Nigeria Still a Drug Transshipment Point
• Jonathan Pardons Corruption

Latin American Links 3/14/2013

• Mexican Drugwar Ghost Pueblos

Latin American Links 3/13/2013

• Honduran Death Squads Murder Peasants in the Bajo Aguán Valley: Reflections on the Bird Report
• Neo-Paramilitary Groups Consolidating in Colombia: Report
• Following Arrests, Mexico Vigilantes Take Soldiers Hostage
• 'Gangs Unable to Enforce Truce in Eastern El Salvador'

West Africa Links 3/13/2013

• Mali: Stabilising northern Mali: different approaches to peace operations
• Mali: Tuareg rebels call for ICC war crimes probe
• Mali Islamists, Separatists Join Forces
• Chad’s Humanitarian Challenges
• Discordant Voices in the “New Nigeria” Trope

  But while the financial press continues to gush about the amount of money to be made in the country, a range of Nigerian voices are expressing fear and anger. Former World Bank official Oby Ezekwesili’s passionate convocation address at the University of Nigeria Nsukka in January criticized an “indulgent elite class” that had squandered $67 billion in reserves that the Obasanjo administration handed over to its successor government in 2007. Transparency and accountability, key to governance benefiting the general public, remain elusive.

• Nigeria's government has pardoned a key ally of President Goodluck Jonathan who was convicted of stealing millions of dollars
• Malian President Plays Down UN Atrocities Accusations
• Maiduguri: The Nigerian city gripped by insurgency

  Since 2009, northern Nigeria has been gripped by a bloody insurgency as militant group Boko Haram continues its quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. Visiting the Boko Haram stronghold Maiduguri is dangerous, so a BBC reporter filmed with a concealed camera to reveal what life is like for citizens caught in the crossfire. The journalist's identity has been concealed for security reasons.

Qatar Links 3/13/2013

• Qatari aid in support of the Egyptian economy, not the Muslim Brotherhood

Balkanization of the Balkans 3/13/2013

• Belgrade Denies Backing Bosnia Serb Opposition

  Aleksandar Vucic, Vice-President of the Serbian government, has dismissed reports in the Sarajevo media that Belgrade plans to help the opposition in Republika Srpska win the next general election in 2014.

Bankster Business 3/13/2013

• Bill Black: Which Aspect of the FDIC’s Litigation Failures is the Most Embarrassing and Damaging?

  The article contains four key facts we did not know about the FDIC’s leadership and its litigation director. ...The first fact is that the banks and bank officers can now cut deals with the FDIC designed to keep their settlements secret.....The second key fact that we learned from the article is that the size of the settlements, for some of the most culpable fraudulent mortgage lenders, is so embarrassingly low that the FDIC’s litigators and investigators have proven to be an embarrassing failure....The third fact that emerges is that the FDIC’s real purpose in entering into these settlements crafted to try to keep the public from learning about them is not to secure a higher settlement but to protect the FDIC leadership from embarrassment for their failures of nerve, competence....The fourth fact that emerges is that the FDIC does not understand how a banking regulator and its litigators must deal with control fraud.

European Crisis 3/4/2013

• Greece: Social explosion?

As the president of Greece becomes the latest person to predict a 'social explosion' in Greece it seems a good idea to ask the question: Are we likely to see an escalation of social unrest as the crisis continues?

• On the social conditions in Greece, now
• Portugal’s Left must respond to a rising tide of rebellion
• How Beppe Grillo and Italy’s Five Star Movement stole the election
• Stiglitz: What is Italy Saying?

Bankster Business 3/4/2013

• Argentine and British protesters resist 'vulture fund' debt claims

  British and Argentine campaigners have staged a noisy pots and pans protest outside the offices of Elliot Associates in London, in support of Argentina’s right not to pay the ‘vulture funds’ still chasing huge profits from its late-2001 debt default

• 12 Things That Just Happened That Show The Next Wave Of The Economic Collapse Is Almost Here

Qatar Links 3/4/2013

• A $1 billion bet on peace: Qatar funds huge Palestinian settlement in West Bank
• Iraq accuses Qatar of financing jihadi groups in Syria
• Western, Asian Arms Suppliers Target Cash-rich Qatar
• Facilitating Afghan peace: Pakistan mulls Taliban transfer to Qatar

West Africa Links 3/4/2013

• Africa and AFRICOM: Neo-Imperialism and the Arrogance of Ignorance
• Gambia to destroy 2 tonnes of cocaine worth US$1BN today
• Conflicting accounts emerge over AQIM leader's reported death
• Is the Polisario an ally of AQIM commander killed in Mali? – MedAfrica Times
• Following Mali, AQIM to Retreat to Algeria
• Shell Considers Shutting Nigerian Pipeline on Increased Oil Theft
• Shell decries unprecedented oil theft in Nigeria
• Boko Haram Leader Disowns Ceasefire
• Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar may be 'alive’

Balkanizaton of the Balkans 3/4/2013

• Bulgaria’s acting PM fires corruption unit deputy director
• Germany may bloc Bulgaria, Romania accession to Schengen area - official

  The two nations have seen their accession repeatedly delayed due to concerns over their failure to contain corruption and organized crime.

Pearls of Wisdom 3/4/2013

• Realism about the prospects for reform in America

  I don't know of any reason why civil society of some sort should not persist on the North American continent more or less than anywhere else. However, this is a time when, so far as reform is concerned, that each and every one of us be more concerned with setting our own houses in order than in reforming the body politic. That would be a waste of time.

• Jury Nullification, Your Secret Civil Right

Perls of Wisdom 3/13/2013

• This Story Stinks

  Simply including an ad hominem attack in a reader comment was enough to make study participants think the downside of the reported technology was greater than they’d previously thought.

  
  

  My Observation: Since Aristotle, rhetoric has included not only the reasoning of an argument, logos, but also its ethos and pathos, how well it advances the good and how strongly. See Modes of PersuasionTo enshrine Logos while discounting Ethos and Pathos is simply to be incomplete.

  .

West Africa 3/3/2013

• Mokhtar Belmokhtar's 'death' a 'significant blow' to al-Qaeda
• Boko Haram Has Declared Civil War In North — Danjuma, Babangida, Others
• Senegal’s MFDC rebels deny Mali jihadist links
• "Daddy, Nigeria Is A Lie" By Prince Charles Dickson
• Portugal Protests - " Screw The Troika " is the rally cry !

Bankster Business 3/3/2013

• Lords of Disorder: Billions for Wall Street, Sacrifice for Everyone Else
  The President’s “sequester” offer slashes non-defense spending by $830 billion over the next ten years. That happens to be the precise amount we’re implicitly giving Wall Street’s biggest banks over the same time period.

European Crisis 3/3/2013

• Good Italy, Bad Italy Girlfriend in a Coma
  
  
  A very informative, sad, inspiring documentary about the past, present and future of Italy.


• Greece reclassified to 'emerging market' from developed
  A major fund manager has reclassified Greece from a developed to an emerging market, in an unprecedented move reflecting the "unfortunate economic tailspin" of the Greek economy, which has threatened the future of the euro. 
•  
• Alasdair Macleod: Europe Is In Worse Shape Than Everyone Thinks
• Cash Airlift Prevented Greek Bank Run

Qatar Posts 3/3/2013

• Saudi Arabia and Qatar ratchet up sectarian and ethnic tensions in Iraq 
  Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been working hard to break up the Shia-Kurdish strategic alliance in Iraq, replacing it with a Turkish strategic alliance with the Kurdish Region (KR), headed by Massoud Barzani, a development which has not only dramatically bolstered the position of the KR in its tense confrontation with Iraq's central government (CG) over land and oil, but also more broadly ramped up ethnic tensions.
• The Saudi Arabization of Islam

West Africa Links

•   Chad Claims Killing of al-Qaeda Commander Abou Zeid – Wall Street Journal
• Is the Polisario an ally of AQIM commander killed in Mali? – MedAfrica Times 
•  Report warns of new Qaeda launching pad along ‘Arc of Instability’- MiddleEastOnline

How to become a drone target

The government apparently calls such attacks signature strikes because the targets are identified based on intelligence “signatures” that suggest involvement in terror plots or militant activity.
So what signatures does the U.S. look for and how much evidence is needed to justify a strike?
The Obama administration has never spoken publicly about signature strikes. Instead, generally anonymous officials have offered often vague examples of signatures. The resulting fragmentary picture leaves many questions unanswered.



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/02/how-to-become-a-drone-target/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29

International banks have aided Mexican drug gangs

Despite strict rules set by international regulatory bodies that require banks to "know their customer," make inquiries about the source of large deposits of cash and report suspicious activity, they have failed to do so in a number of high-profile cases and instead have allowed billions in dirty money to be laundered.

European banks' asset sales face disastrous failure

This sounds a lot like how US banks bundled mortgages together:

European banks are being forced to abandon their efforts to sell off trillions of euros worth of loans, mortgages and real estate after a series of talks with potential investors broke down, leaving many already struggling firms with piles of assets they can barely support.

....

Securitisation is at the heart of such arrangements. Assets with low ratings are pooled together into diversified portfolios in order to attain a higher rating. The resulting asset requires less cash and as a result of the higher rating can be more readily pledged to the ECB or to other banks to borrow against.

Mexico seeks to fill drug war gap with focus on dirty money

The evolving anti-laundering campaign could change the tone of the Mexican government's battle by striking at the heart of the cartels' financial empire, analysts say.

....

For example, Mexican traffickers are taking advantage of blind spots in monitoring the nearly $400 billion of legal commerce between the two countries. The so-called trade-based laundering allows crime groups to disguise millions of dollars in tainted funds as ordinary merchandise — say, onions or precious metals, as they are trucked across the border.

In one case, the merchandise of choice was tons of polypropylene pellets used for making plastic. Exports of the product from the United States to Mexico appeared legitimate, but law enforcement officials say that by declaring a slightly inflated value, traders were able to hide an average of more than $1 million a month, until suspicious banks shut down the operation.

....

There is also stubborn resistance among those who profit from their role as middlemen for big transactions.

One such group is notaries, who in Mexico have a function much like attorneys in the U.S. They handle nearly all real estate transactions and have battled a proposal that would require them to report how each purchase was paid for. Notaries say launderers would probably respond by skipping the paperwork altogether when buying cars and houses, only adding to the black-market economy.

Greece’s lonely path

Like Israel, Greece is in a period of less than splendid diplomatic isolation, though for very different reasons, and that is exactly what Dimas, in concert with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, will attempt to reverse in a relatively short period.

Though the focus has been on Greece’s isolation within the European Union, which has for decades been the country’s pillar of security, the geostrategic vulnerability resulting from the economic crisis will test Athens’ ability to respond to Turkish expansionism - from Ankara’s claims to Aegean islets to its objections to Greece delineating its exclusive economic zone with Cyprus.

The American intelligence think tank Stratfor, which is associated with the US intelligence community, declared in a November 21 monograph that “the question for Greece is whether it will be able to accept its much-reduced geopolitical role”. The think tank warns that if Athens does not find a way to be useful to a great power, Greece’s geopolitical role will “depend on the strategies that Turkey adopts”.

Cold comfort as austerity bites in Europe

the Balkanization of the Balkans continues:

Romanian mayor Florin Cazacu staged a six-day hunger strike last week over cuts to heating subsidies which meant his town of Brad could not afford fuel oil and 10,000 of its residents, public institutions and hospital faced a bitter winter.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note # 7 | Small Wars Journal

‎"More importantly, at the officer safety level, two of these incidents suggest that US law enforcement officers should expect to engage Cartel foot soldiers armed with AK-47 semi-automatic rifles as standard issue weapons (at a minimum). The 7.62mm armor piercing round of the AK-47 will defeat standard issue US law enforcement body armor.... Additionally, the cartel tactical units/personnel initiated offensive actions against US law enforcement personnel in three of these highlighted incidents."

Guatemala and the Black Market for US Weapons

The trafficking of weapons over the U.S.-Mexico border is well-documented -- lesser known but also significant is the sale of U.S. weapons to Guatemalan government contractors, which are then siphoned off to criminal groups.

Russian, Italian mafias take root, Dominican official warns - DominicanToday.com

The President’s Adviser on narcotics warned Monday that real mafias are taking root in Dominican Republic, whose society has been neglectful by ignoring their mechanisms and presence, calling the recent executions of local and foreign citizens, their “simple tertiary manifestations.”

Bolivia and Brazil Unite Efforts in Drug War

The Brazilian and Bolivian police are starting joint anti-drug operations, an acknowledgement of the scale of the cross border problem, perhaps heralding a new direction for the Bolivians, who have resisted working closely with the United States on the drug issue.

Jamaica: Life and death in police state where officers double as executioners | Mail Online

War has begun. Firefights rage between gunmen loyal to Dudus and the government’s forces. Four police officers and soldiers have been killed, a police station firebombed. Tivoli Gardens’ multicoloured tower blocks were built in a courageous attempt to move impoverished Jamaicans from hellhole slums into modern housing. Now they have become Dudus’s fiefdom, a state within a state.

Once sleepy Dominican towns become smuggler's paradise - DominicanToday.com

Mafia and Mexicans unite for drug push | The Australian

The head of the UN's Office of Drugs and Crime in Mexico City, Antonio Mazzitelli, believes Mexican drug cartels have struck deals with Australian members of the powerful Italian mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, to capitalise on the country's hugely profitable cocaine trade.

Mr Mazzitelli told The Australian that the Mexican cartels had turned to the 'Ndrangheta -- which was formed in the Calabria region in Italy's south and is now the most powerful of the Italian mafias -- to help them establish business in new markets.

Organized Crime in Central Europe - Worldpress.org

The countries of Central Europe, especially the Czech Republic and Hungary, are used as centers for coordination, communication and conciliation between very powerful international crime syndicates, which have managed to install their headquarters in the heart of the European Union.

Jamaica lacks resources to deal with drug trafficking, says PM - News - Go-Jamaica

The prime minister said while there have been efforts to enhance patrolling of Jamaica’s territorial waters; this isn't enough to play a significant role in disabling the drug trade.

Bolivia Seeks To Decriminalize Coca

Bolivia Seeks To Decriminalize Coca

Middle East Spectator: Unlikely Bedfellows: Are Some Saharan Marxists Joining Al-Qaida Operations In North Africa?

However, there is some evidence that stalled discussions over independence or autonomy for Western Sahara may have created a marriage of convenience among some elements of the independence struggle and AQIM. If accurate, these reports suggest that some members of the Algeria-based Polisario Front have joined al-Qaeda in trafficking drugs, arms and humanitarian aid in North Africa's desert borderlands.

BBC: Balkans – new entrance for Latin American cocaine to Europe - FOCUS Information Agency

London. Latin American organized crime groups involved in cocaine trafficking have found new transit area on the Balkans for cocaine trafficking between Latin American countries and Europe. These are the findings of the European Police Service Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
“Our findings are that the route through the Balkans is being used more and more often for cocaine trafficking from Latin America to the EU. It is important that new trend to become one of the priorities of the national authorities for combating drug trafficking”, director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Wolfgang Gotz told BBC.

Foreign gangs pose biggest challenge to PH anti-drug drive—US - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

The Washington DC-based agency said 'traffickers increasingly take advantage of the Philippines' long and porous maritime borders to use the country as a transit point for high-grade cocaine and heroin shipments, primarily from India and Pakistan.'

South American drug barons funding al-Qaida

Latin American drug barons have been exposed as a crucial source of funds for al-Qaida by paying them to ensure the safe passage of cocaine across North Africa and towards Europe.

Additional Cocaine Sites Uncovered In Gambia???

For now, we will name two sites where tons of cocaine are concealed in the Gambia. We are talking about billions of dollars of street value of cocaine hidden somewhere in the former British colony. How comes that Gambia’s anti narcotic officers are unable to trace the hidden cocaine? Why is the National Drug Enforcement Agency transferred to the President’s office? How can the NDEA investigate the President when it is answerable to the Head of State? How can Jammeh effectively supervise the NDEA when there is a conflict of interest here? Is Jammeh aware of the information circulating allegedly linking him with the arrested South American nationals currently going to court on cocaine trafficking? Who owns the hidden cocaine?

In Kenya, Huts Far Off the Grid Harness the Sun - NYTimes.com

Yet while these off-grid systems have proved their worth, the lack of an effective distribution network or a reliable way of financing the start-up costs has prevented them from becoming more widespread.

“The big problem for us now is there is no business model yet,” said John Maina, executive coordinator of Sustainable Community Development Services, or Scode, a nongovernmental organization based in Nakuru, Kenya, that is devoted to bringing power to rural areas.