Monday, July 20, 2009

Art Thievess Are Not Supermen

One of John Robb's running themes is that Global Guerrillas are superempowered individuals who zip in and out of nation states' OODA loops.

Whatever skills, say, Henry Okah, the brains behing Nigeria's MEND, may have, or whatever skills the legendary Pink Panther might have, the typical art thief apparently is no such superman, according to Art Theft Central:
This case highlights how art thieves are not the Thomas Crown Affair playboy businessmen, who steal for the sheer pleasure and rush of excitement associated with art theft. Rather, as Dr. Simon Mackenzie discusses in 'Criminal and Victim Profiles in Art Theft: Motive, Opportunity and Repeat Victimisation,' in Art Antiquity and Law (Vol. X, No. 4, pp. 353-370, 2005), 'Most criminals are not specialists in one particular crime, rather they are opportunists. If they are career criminals, they may have a bank of core skills, but these can be adapted to different criminal activities (356).'

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