Mafia's influence hovers over 13m Italians, says report | World news | The Guardian

According to The Guardian13 million Italians live in areas influenced by organized crime.

Italy Tax Amnesty Poised to Pass; Opposition Says It Aids Mafia - Bloomberg.com

According to Bloomberg, Italy is about to passa tax amnesty that opposition says will encourage tax evasion and money laundering.

Guinea's Role in the Drug Trade

This video highlights Guinea's role in West Africa's drug trade, discussing the current government's asserted crackdown:

Catholic Church agrees with “faceless” judges for drug trafficking cases - DominicanToday.com

Apparently Dominican Republic judges and prosecutors
feel so threatened by narco traffickers that they want to become "faceless.">.

How To Launder Money (And Everything Else You Wanted To Know About Money Laundering) � The Velvet Rocket

How To Launder Money (And Everything Else You Wanted To Know About Money Laundering) � The Velvet Rocket.

Don't even think about secret accounts in safe havens such as Switzerland, Lichtenstein, or Guernsey. Regulators will catch you. Invoice fraud, exporting or importing over or undervalued goods and services, is the way to go. Regulators are not on top of this. Other money laundering techniques are mentioned.

Dubai Is Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made Of

Dubai – New Jack Emirate � The Velvet Rocket

Dubai’s struggles during the global financial crisis will only strengthen its underworld, according to Christopher Davidson, a lecturer in Middle East politics at Durham University and the author of Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success. “As Dubai’s efforts to fully liberalize its economy come undone and its attractiveness to foreign investors declines further, the international spotlight will eventually move away and it may become more attractive than ever to human traffickers, gunrunners, and money launderers,” he says. Dubai’s new smugglers may be Indian mobsters or Chechen strongmen instead of dhow sailors, but the old dual structure of legitimate and illegitimate business remains robust.

The Republican Health Care Plan

1. Don't Get Sick!
2. If You Do Get Sick - Die Quickly!
   

And his encore:

Dubai to "liberalise the rules governing its funds industry"

Dubai to open doors to funds

Lax enforcement is just what the world economy needs.

Irish Gangs Exploit Prisons

In Ireland, as elsewhere,prisons are networking centers for gangs.

“Gangs in jails have increased in number and stature, they have become fashionable,” he said.

He believed gangs were using smuggled mobile phones in jails to organise shootings and drug deals outside the jail.

Guinea: Soldiers Shoot Protestors

Soldiers loyal to Guinea's head of state, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, shot and killed at least 58 protesters, who were part of a rally against Camara's continuing in power. :

Camara, who seized power in a coup last December following the death of long-time President Lansana Conté , had pledged to step down following promised elections. The protesters, responding to rumors that Camara might nevertheless become a candidate in those elections, had sought to prevent him from running.

Prior to Camara's December coup, Guinea had been a center for cocaine smuggling. However, Camara pledged that he would crackdown on drugs.

Recent reports nevertheless assert that Camara actually has promoted drugs.

Musah said the military ruler is being influenced by suspected drug dealers.

'He came pretending to fight against the drug trafficking and others and today we know that some of the drug barons in Guinea are some of his advisors,' Musah said.

Recently reports have conflicted as to whether West Africa remains a heavy source for routing cocaine into Europe - some reporting a decline in cocaine smuggling; others reporting that it is going strong. Less cocaine has recently been seized, but whether that means less cocaine is therefore being smuggled or whether enforcement has been more lax is unclear.

Outside The Walls: Kosovo: Fighting Crime

Outstanding blog post on fighting crime in Kosovo:

As noted here before, there is certainly crime and smuggling in northern Kosovo, as there is in southern Kosovo. Interestingly, the one area in which Serbs and Albanians have always been able to cooperate fully is organized crime. Indeed, smuggling into the north is only really profitable because much of what enters “illegally” goes to the much larger market south of the Ibar. Busting up these organized criminal gangs would presumably pull in a fair number of persons of all ethnicities and maybe even some officials and police, south as well as north. Smuggling knows no bounds in Kosovo. [emphasis added]

Gold pirates wage a dirty, underground war - Times Online

Graphic description of illegal South African gold mining.

Senior Turkish police official arrested for drug links (SETimes.com)

Senior Turkish police official arrested for drug links (SETimes.com)

Morocco: A Drug Hub For Europe

Morocco: A Drug Hub for Europe:

The arrest of a former Moroccan member of parliament highlight's that country's drug problem.

The Angst of Joel Fleischman

Want to know how transitioning to John Robb's resilient communities would feel like?

Watch reruns of the 1990's television series, Northern Exposure.

Its central caracter, Joel Fleischman, found himself in the spot we all will find ourself in - should Robb's resilient community theory pan out.

According to Robb, we would all find ourselves in these tightly knit, self sufficient communities. Places just like Cicely, Alaska, location for the Northern Exposure plot.

Poor Fleischman. He has just graduated from medical school and wants to go to New York, where the money is. But no such luck for him. Alaska has paid his medical bill, so he must pay it back by serving instead in Cicely.

There he learns to avoid the local moose; meets Adam, the wilderness man; courts the local bush pilot; and listens to the local philosopher/DJ. Not exactly the New Yorker Talk of the Town.

And apparently this is where we all are headed - as we come to grips with our own inner moose. And that's all for the best - according to Robb.

Massive Exodus Of Street Children Into Western Europe

Massive Exodus Of Street Children Into Western Europe:

There are believed to be a quarter of a million street children in Europe, although officials cautioned that figure may be higher because as many as 1.5 million young gypsies, also known as Roma, are 'unregistered'.

The Bailout For Dummies

In their article,Meet the Hazzards, Nomi Prins and Christopher Hayes describe the recent financial bailout as it would have appeared had it, instead, been given to an hypothetical Twin Cities couple named Joe and Katie Hazzard.

Flow of Cocaine To Europe via West Africa May Have Ebbed

Citing an anti-drug crackdown in Guinea-Conakry, the head of Europe's drug fighting agency, MAOC statesthat this year's flow of cocaine to Europe via West Africa has ebbed.

Profile of A Smuggler

Profile of a smuggler:

Police became suspicious about the artichoke consignment because the shipment was being made by a recently founded company whose owners had raised eyebrows with some recent trips to Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia.

Kosovo: Rethinking EU Policy / ISN

A rift is growing between the European Union and Kosova.

In the meantime, economic development, or a lack thereof, appears to be playing second fiddle to basic law and order, and the risk of economic and social collapse are very real. (For all intents and purposes, Kosovo depends on imports, diaspora remittances and the expenditures of international personnel to stay afloat.)

A Chain of perils: The new Lean Logistics

The modern JIT inventory system is increasingly vulnerable to systems disruptions.

Plans for coastal radar in Windward Islands on hold

The Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba has shelved plans to construct coastal radar on the Windward Islands pending further analysis. The reasons are mainly financial. according to the Philipsburg, St. Maarten Daily Herald.

The paper states that previously installed radars have enabled the coast guard to intercept 2,400 kilos of narcotics, incluing 2,072 kilos of cocaine.

Prominent Bosnian Director Fears New War :: BalkanInsight.com

An Ocar-winning Bosnian film director has warned that - if current trends continue - conflict will break out in Bosnia.

United States urged to curb trafficking of weapons to the Caribbean

Press Release, Office of the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis: United States urged to curb trafficking of weapons to the Caribbean

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, SEPTEMBER 21ST 2009 (CUOPM) – As St. Kitts and Nevis and other Caribbean states tackle the problem of crime, a former Antigua and Barbuda diplomat has warned that unless the United States takes the lead to put measures in place to curb the trafficking of weapons and drugs through the region, the situation will worsen.

According to CMC, Sir Ronald Saunders, who twice served as the Caribbean nation’s High Commissioner to London, said the issue of drugs, arms and crime is “the gravest problem” facing the countries of the Caribbean and Latin America - with the exception of Cuba. He said while in the past the US, Canada and European government have concentrated on cutting the supply through eradication and interdiction with limited success, “it is clearly the time to rethink this strategy.”

The former diplomat said that in doing so, the authorities in those countries must do so in full collaboration with both the producing and transit countries, both of whom “are as much the victims of the trade” as the countries in which the huge markets reside.

“Almost every country has the same problem and many of the smuggled weapons, when captured are traceable to the United States. This suggests that the absence of a vigorous policy to curb arms sales is unintentionally contributing to crime in Central America and the Caribbean,” Sir Ronald told a recent gathering of high-ranking military officers at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

He said countries of the region are overwhelmed by the crime that has developed as a consequence of drug trafficking. “In many cases, their police forces are out-gunned by the weapons available to drug gangs and they lack the numbers, the equipment and other resources to combat the problem,” Sir Ronald told the officers from Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

“In conditions of economic decline and increased unemployment, drug trafficking and its attendant other crimes escalate, as they are now doing throughout the region,” said the former chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force against drug trafficking and money laundering.

“The US government could make an enormous contribution to resolving this huge problem by passing legislation and implementing machinery to control arms smuggling; by reviewing the practice of deporting convicted felons to their countries of origin; and by adopting measures to stop legal sale of assault weapons.”

The former Antigua and Barbuda envoy said in addition Washington should take a lead in organising collaborative arrangements with Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean to establish a comprehensive anti-narcotic programme that addresses both supply and demand.

“If this is not done, the problem of drug-trafficking and its attendant high crime will continue to plague Central America and the Caribbean with a terrible destabilising effect on the small economies that are least able to cope,” Sir Ronald warned in the CMC report.

Are Mexican Cartels Expanding for Profit or Survival?

Analyst Sylvia Longmire reviews the Mexican drug cartels' current expansion into Europe via West Africa, attempting to determine whether they are being pulled their by desire for greater profits or being pushed there by more vigorous North American law enforcement.

Her results are inconclusive.

Art Theft Central: Boston Art Thefts Before the Gardner Heist

A chronology of art theft in Boston suggests Rembrandt and old masters have been favorite targets.

Latin American drug cartels move into Africa – The CNN Wire - CNN.com Blogs

CNN provides an overview of cocaine smuggling into Europe via West Africa.

This overview covers ground already familiar to this blog's readers.

The Great Global Land Grab

Traditional farmers are being driven from their farms by modern agribusinessincluing, most recently a great Global Land Grab.

As Mike Davis discusses in Planet of Slums, these displaced peasants flock to slums in giant megacities.

These slums, in turn, have become breeding grounds for many current Global Guerrilla type organizations.

The Disfunctional Art Market

Despite numerous laws to the contrary, illicit art trade has nevertheless been increasing.:

If one were to devise a badly flawed market, one would be hard-pressed to surpass the antiquities trade. The reasons for this are numerous, but can be attributed to two main factors: a restricted supply and a trade plagued by anonymous buyers and sellers often shielded by auction house practices and traditions.

Russian Adventurism on the Black Sea

More mayhem in the Black sea described by an author who apparently believes or at least purports that "rule of law" in those parts represents something other than the interests of those who currently are bribing the judiciary.

Tactics Used To Smuggle From Columbia

Drug smuggling tactics from the Columbian exporters' perspective:

Police said that El Gato shipped drugs using two methods: across the Caribbean Sea in relatively large boats and with human carriers who first go to Venezuela and from there travel to Central America, the United States and Europe.

Authorities also discovered an ingenious strategy the band used to transport drugs on the high seas consisting of securing cargoes of some 500 kilos below the water’s surface attached to a buoy.

Shower Posse: The Big Picture – Boomshots

The Jamaican experience is universal, according to film producer Curtis Scoon.

In every movie there has to be a universal message, a universal theme. And with the Shower Posse, the geopolitical aspect is something that plays out around the world in third world countries. What happened is not exclusive to Jamaica. This is going on in Africa right now, in Asia. It’s the same game, so people could identify with that. The little guy’s getting caught up in the battle between the big imperial forces.

Douglas Farah: Physical Safe Havens for Terrorists

According to Douglas Farah, safe havens play a vital role for terrorists because they create bonds of trust forged in a broader common experience.

What Farah does not consider is that prisons also provide such common experiences.

Hard Times In the Shipping Industry

According to Lloyd's List, the shipping industry is facing hard times.

Doubtlessly smugglers will be able to exploit stresses resulting from these hard times.

The Nigerian - Czech Connection

Nigerian gang members living in the Czech Republic are hiring couriers from around the world to smuggle cocaine into that country.

According to Viktor Mravčík, the head of Czech Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, while drug use by Czechs is an old story, cocaine use in particular is now surging:

This is a kind of mutual trend together with increasing supply, at least in the mid or long term. Prices are going down. It seems that at least concerning cocaine, supply is increasing; there is a lot of cocaine coming to the Czech Republic. Demand for that cocaine exists as it is kind of in fashion and the decreasing price is accompanying this trend.”

Sniffing Out Fakes

Apparently, only an expert's sixth sense can tellwhether tribal art is genuine or fake.

But to distinguish the real from the fake, say those in the know, potential buyers need more than mere expertise. They must also be blessed with intuition.

The Mondragon Experiment

Mondragon is a community of worker cooperatives in Spain.

Bulgaria Customs Director Admits Existence of Organized Crime: Director Admits Bulgaria Customs Ridden by Organized Crime - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency

For twenty years, organized crime has run Bulgarian customs.

Bosnian Leaders Debate Country’s Dissolution, War :: BalkanInsight.com

Bosnia leaders accuse each other of seeking the county's dissolution and heading toward war.

Background on Jamaica's Garrisons

The Jamaican government has effectively ceded authority over certain neighborhoods known as "garrisons".

The Spanish Golden Age

The United States today bears close semblance to 17th Century Hapsburg Spain. Both are empires in decline, decaying from within. Spain living off silver from the Americas; while the United States lives off credit from abroad.

Given this dreary prognosis, we must consider how nevertheless to make a go of things.

If the parallel between today's United States and 17th century Spain holds up, then we should pursue high culture - for while 17th century Spain suffered political decline, it also culturally manifested its Golden Age

The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish: Siglo de Oro, Golden Century) period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise and decline of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. El Siglo de Oro does not imply precise dates, but it begins no earlier than 1492, with the end of the Reconquista (Reconquest), the sea voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New World, and the publication of Antonio de Nebrija's Gramática de la lengua castellana (Grammar of the Castilian Tongue). Politically, it ends no later than 1659, with the Treaty of the Pyrenees, ratified between France and Habsburg Spain. The last, great writer of the period, Pedro Calderon de la Barca, died in 1681, and his death usually is considered the end of El Siglo de Oro of Spain, the golden century in the arts and literature.

The Habsburgs, both in Spain and Austria, were great patrons of art in their countries. El Escorial, the great royal monastery built by King Philip II of Spain, invited the attention of some of Europe's greatest architects and painters. Diego Velázquez, regarded as one of the most influential painters of European history and a greatly respected artist in his own time, cultivated a relationship with King Philip IV and his chief minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, leaving us several portraits that demonstrate his style and skill. El Greco, another respected artist from the period, infused Spanish art with the styles of the Italian renaissance and helped create a uniquely Spanish style of painting. Some of Spain's greatest music is regarded as having been written in the period. Such composers as Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Guerrero, Luis de Milán and Alonso Lobo helped to shape Renaissance music and the styles of counterpoint and polychoral music, and their influence lasted far into the Baroque period which resulted in a revolution of music. Spanish literature blossomed as well, most famously demonstrated in the work of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Spain's most prolific playwright, Lope de Vega, wrote possibly as many as one thousand plays during his lifetime, of which over four hundred survive to the present day.

Trustworthiness:

Vendor reliability:

Privacy:

Child safety:

Guyana to Jamaica Connection

A ship from Guyana traveling to Jamaica had 60 million dollars worth of cocaine.

Greek terrorist group vows to target financial institutions

Greek terrorist group vows to target financial institutions:

In a proclamation published in the weekly Pontiki newspaper Thursday, the group said it was protesting the conservative government's strict measures amid the economic crisis.

Hooray for Ebay Fakes

Forging artifacts has become so lucrative that plundering no longer makes sense, according to Charles Stanish, director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and a professor of anthropology at UCLA.

According to Stanish, thanks to ebay, one can make more money forging an antiquity than digging it up. The more forgeries, the less looting, he suggests.

Many of these forgeries have become so highly sophisticated that they can fool experts.

[T]he experts who study the objects are sometimes being trained on fakes. As a result, they may authenticate pieces that are not real.

The Archdruid Report: A Terrible Ambivalence

John Michael Greer reminds me of why I often suspect mysticism may be the only sane response to the current global situation:

We are not going to have a future better than the present: not in our lifetimes, and not in those of our grandchildren's grandchildren. We collectively closed the door on that possibility decades ago, and none of the rapidly narrowing range of choices still open to us now offers any way of changing that. If this sounds like fatalism, it may be worth remembering that once a car goes skidding off a mountain road into empty air, it requires neither a crystal ball nor a faith in predestination to recognize that nothing anybody can do is going to prevent a terrific crash.

Gangs to Guatamalen Government: Prisons Belong to Us - Not You

The drug cartels, by slaying four Guatemalan prison officials, told Guatemala to mind its own businessregarding what goes on inside:

"The prisons, in general, are centers of corruption," Carrera said. "From inside prison, they direct kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking."

Balkan Mafia Terrorize Slovenian Diplomat in Belgrade

An employee of the Slovenian embassy in Serbia was forced off the road by the Serbian mafia.

Sick and Wrong : Rolling Stone

Sick and Wrong: How Washington is screwing up health care reform – and why it may take a revolt to fix it, by Matt Taibbi:

Article: Homogenous voting, electoral manipulation and the 'garrison' process in post-independence Jamaica.

Jamaica's "garrisons" are at the root of its links to the drug trade.:

It is impossible to present in one article an in-depth discussion of all of these interrelated negative elements that have emerged within the Jamaican sociopolitical system. At the same time there is a distinctive feature of the system that provides a link between all of these symptoms of malaise. The nexus between electoral manipulation, corrupt politics, tainted elements in the security forces, crime, violence and the international drug trade has reached its apogee in a number of Jamaica's urban communities which have been labelled political 'garrisons'. Coming to terms with the 'garrisons' is essential to an understanding of Jamaica's national politics, its crime problem and its role within the international drug trade.

Profile of Four Serbian Cocaine Traffickers

Four Serbians rank amonst the major drug importers from Latin America.

Italy: Mafia exploits new opportunities in Rome

Italian organized crime is moving from Southern Italy into Rome.

The Limits of Jamaican Government's Political Authority

The Jamaican government is now experiencing difficulty extraditing Christopher 'Dudus' Coke to the United States on drug and weapons charges because it has ceded to him and individuals like him the delivery of essential services to portions of the Jamaican population.

Credit Crunch Impairs Drug Trafficking

International police investigations have shown that even well-established Irish drugs gangs are no longer able to depend on credit when buying drugs.

Cellphone Contact Between British and Panamanian Prision Inmates

Cellphone contact between a British and a Panamanian prison inmate gave rise to a cocaine smuggling network.

From his cell, by the banks of the Panama Ship canal, he is said to be involved in a cocaine conspiracy which stretches all the way back to the UK.

His prison El Renacer, is notorious.

Jamaica Gleaner News - EDITORIAL - This is not Somalia, we hope - Commentary - Sunday | September 6, 2009

Asserting that Jamaica is hopefully not yet Somalia, this editorial urges the Jamaican government to move rapidly on the extradition of "community leader," Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, to the United States

Objection to Worker Cooperatives

When a firm is highly complex, like an orchestra, it needs a conductor. Money serves this conductor role in a modern economy, Joseph Heath argues.

Heath also asserts that cooperatives also inhibit employment, which may be true and which may make them undesirable, but which would not make them infeasible.

Fishy Airplane Landing At Sierra Leone Airport

A "forced landing" at the Sierra Leone airport has raised suspicions:

Police sources inform Awareness Times that the six foreigners have made a statement to the police in which they say that they were on a mission to conduct a feasibility study into Sierra Leone’s potential to export by air, frozen fish livestock from a proposed cold room that should be located at the Lungi Airport.

The Balkan Connection: From Columbia Through West Africa to Romania

An alleged cocaine trafficker extradited by Romania to the United States has a complex route. He allegedly sought to transport tons of cocaine to West Africa. Romanian authorities arrested him after he traveled there to set up a base of operations.

A Full Employment Economic Downturn

Spain's Mondrag�n Worker-Cooperatives maintain employment despite an economic downturn.

Gambling Industry Raises Stakes In Balkans - Forbes.com

The gambling industry - well known for links to money laundering and organized crime - is growing rapidly in southeastern Europe.

Jamaican Police Respond to Threats Against Prime Minister's Office

The requested extradition to the United States of Jamaican political boss Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who is wanted for drug charges, could threaten chaos inside Jamaica.

EU Crime Fighting Efforts Stir Troubles With Kosovo

The Kosovo government is having their first major disagreement with EULEX over the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo intention, announced in August, to sign a protocol with Serbian police as part of regional cooperation to fight organized crime

Greek Bombing Update

Criminal connections apparently influenced the recent bombings in Greece.:

Krugman: How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?

Paul Krugman in How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?sets forth his vision the future of economics;

Krugman is spot on regarding financial markets' imperfections and delusions.

However, because of globalization, his prescription of Keynesianism as a cure will not work. Back in the 1930's, when Keynes wrote and FDR began the New Deal, "the economy" was the national economy. Therefore, it made sense and was feasible to address economic issues from Washington. Nowadays, however, "the economy" is the global economy. Absent some global government, it would no longer be feasible to regulate it.

US Worried about Bosnian Political Rifts :: BalkanInsight.com

Bosnia seems to be on "the brink of collapse.

Contemporary Artists Are Victims of Chinese Fakes

Contemporary Artists Are Victims of Chinese Fakes Learn the story of Mandy Wilkinson, the most widely forged contemporary British artist.

VOA News - US to Base Drones in Seychelles to Fight Piracy

The United States will use land based drones to combat piracy. Their purpose: conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

Art insurers on high alert for fraudulent claims

Art insurers on high alert for fraudulent claims:

When the economy goes into recession, cases of insurance fraud shoot up. Industry specialists for the art world say they are watching contemporary dealers particularly closely

Party Time At the Afghan Embassy

If the federal government does not take the war in Afghanistan seriously, then why should we?

Anti-Crime Network

Gallery owner uses Facebook, Twitter to locate stolen painting

Upon learning of the theft, Tove Bormes posted messages to the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter that included pictures of the stolen works and asked her fans to re-post the pictures in hopes of finding leads.
“I’m amazed at how angry people got,” she said.

This sounds like a high-tech version of the Baker Street Irregulars.

Bomb explodes at Athens Stock Exchange

Financial institutions are finally being targeted. A bomb has exploded outside the Athens stock exchange.

Given the current economic situation, it is frankly surprising there has not been a great deal more of this.

Bosnian Political Crisis Could Lead to "Verge of New War"

Bosnian opposition party says the country's leaders are moving toward "the verge of a new war."

Economic Decline Undermines Law Enforcement in Romania

Among other things, police on patrol must purchase their own gasoline:

Mallignant Health Networks

When illicit medical networks spring up, the results can be unhealthy

Money Laundering In Bulgaria

Another report that tourism in Bulgaria can be a front for money laundering:

Entropy

Basho's haiku:

Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

G.S. Fraser's translation:

The old pond, yes, and
A frog-jumping-in-the-
Water’s noise!

Say What You Will About Liverpool, It Ain't No Baltimore

“Shootings happen every day in Baltimore. I’ve been to Liverpool and sure it’s another tough, working class town but you can’t really compare the crime.

Nevertheless, there are similarities, too:

A Liverpool gangland source said that Speke’s criminal network is largely under the control of one well-known family, akin to the Barksdale brothers in The Wire.

Ireland's Cocaine Supply

The senior Dutch officer said cocaine was also being supplied [to Ireland] through Holland. It was being shipped from South America via the Caribbean with Spain a popular first port of call. A kilo of cocaine could be bought for as little as €700 in the Dutch Antilles, off Venezuela. The same quantity is worth €75,000 in Ireland.

Macedonia's Grey Economy Is Five Percent Of Its GDP

This means that roughly 5 per cent of Macedonia’s GDP circulates in grey market transactions, the CEA says. As a result, it looses about 320 euros per year in tax revenues.

Drug Smuggling In Brazil

Since both speak Portuguese, trafficking between Brazil and Guinea Bissau is particularly feasible.

Here is a report on smuggling in Brazil:

Macedonian Border Guards Arrested For Bribery

Part of the cost of doing business for smugglers in the Balkansis bribing border guards.

Twenty-two Macedonian police officers, employed at their country’s main border crossing with Serbia, were arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of taking bribes from travellers.

US Style Gang Violence Has Come to Britain

The UK now suffers from the same culture of gangs and violence found in the US with drug offences increasing in all the most deprived corners of the country, Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary said.

However, the BBC disputes this.

Bulgaria Ranks 3rd In Europe For Concealed Incomes

Bulgaria ranks third, following Italy and Romania respectively, for concealed incomes amongst European countries, according to EU financial police sources.

This conceal income reportedly drains Bulgaria's economy.

Guinea-Bissau's Problems Persist Despite Recent Elections

Barely a month after Guinea-Bissau held a peaceful election, death threats against a top prosecutor and the heavy-handedness of its military are dampening hopes of an end to decades of instability.: ""

14 Years After War's End, Ethnic Divisions Once Again Gripping Bosnia - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post detailsBosnia's rising ethnic tensions, restating themes already familiar to this blog's readers.

Jamaica Observer: It's Our Turn To Be Selfish, Hypocritical and Arrogant

Given America's agricultural import restrictions, apparently Jamaica's remaining available export is narcotics, according to the Jamaica Observer.

How Will the Pirates Respond to This?

Merchant sailors and shippers have adopted new defensive tactics.

Africa Needs Global Guerrillas

If nationalist insurrections are the cause of Africa's problems, then perhaps transnational movements could solve them.

According to George B.N. Ayittey, presidente of the Free Africa Foundation:

The implosion starts when a politically excluded group, fed up with the rotten status quo, mounts a rebel insurgency. Africa's rebel leaders do not seek to redraw artificial colonial boundaries; they want power and head straight to the capital city. The ensuing wars cause wanton destruction and horrific carnage. Rebel leaders seize power but often they are worse than the despots they replaced. Then the cycle begins again. As Africans often say: 'We struggle very hard to remove one cockroach from power, but then the next rat comes to do the same thing.'

Truth May Be Beauty - But Is Beauty Always True?

The art world is riddled with forgeries, terrorising experts with the threat of lost reputation and corroding our appreciation of beauty

More Troubles for Bosnia

The Bosnian Serbs want out while the Bosnian Muslims and Croats want to end Serbian autonomy.

Guinea Bissau's Attorney General Receiving Death Threats

Guinea-Bissau's attorney general has received death threats

Guinea Bissau's president and army chief were murdered in March of this year.

Guinea Bissau has become a transit hub for distributing cocaine from Latin America into Europe. The value of this cocaine is estimated to exceed the country's GDP.

The March murders are believed to be drug related.

INTERPOL creates online access to global stolen works of art database to reduce illicit trade

INTERPOL creates online access to global stolen works of art database to reduce illicit trade

INTERPOL has established direct online access to authorized users via a secure website to its international database on stolen works as part of its fight against the illicit trade of stolen cultural property.

Online access will not be limited to the law enforcement community but will be open to all interested users who first have to apply for access to the database, which features the latest information on some 34,000 works of art stolen worldwide. Interested parties wishing to access the database will first have to complete an application form in order to obtain an individual password for database access.

With direct access to the database, which will be continuously updated as and when the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon receives new information on stolen works of art worldwide, authorized users of the database will be provided with real-time access to the latest information recorded in the database. The available information will not include nominal data, but strictly object-related information such as descriptions and photographs of stolen cultural goods.

The co-ordinator of INTERPOL’s Works of Art (WOA) department, Karl Heinz Kind, said contribution and access to the database represented ‘an important tool to counter the traffic in cultural property effectively’. He said that increased reporting activities by INTERPOL’s 187 member countries would be expected so that all member countries could take full advantage of the benefits of information sharing, as with all types of crime reporting.

“Accessibility to stolen art information is a vital contribution to creating public awareness on the protection of cultural property,” said Mr Kind.

“The inclusion of a stolen cultural property item into INTERPOL’s stolen works of art database, and extensive online access to the database, therefore represent an important barrier to the illicit trafficking of a stolen cultural object by making its sale more difficult,” added Mr Kind.

As access to the database will not be limited to law enforcement agencies, but will also be offered to all concerned cultural and professional bodies (including Ministries of Culture, museums, auction houses, art galleries, foundations, collectors), it will also be made that much more difficult for a seller or purchaser to claim not having had the opportunity to check whether an item was recorded as stolen.

Online access to the database replaces the “INTERPOL – Stolen Works of Art” DVD previously made available upon application.

US Army Prepares For Nigeria’s Possible Break-up

While the US Army doubtlessly also has contingency plans to deal with Canada's possible break-up, it recently has been dealing with Nigeria's possible break-up.

Garrisons: The Frankensteins of Jamaican Politics

Jamaican olitics and ganges are intermingled in urban regions known as garrisons, according to"The Politics of the Garrison in Jamaica: Electoral Manipulation Through Patronage and Violence", by Peter Wright.

Wright provides the followng Takeaways:

• The term "garrison" describe an area where there is a fanatic loyalty to one political party.
• The garrisons must be removed from the political process to truly have free and fair elections.
• The politicians who created the garrisons no longer control them but have some influence over them.

American Chemical Society: Up to 90 percent of U.S. paper money contains traces of cocaine

According to the American Chemical Society,up to 90 percent of U.S. paper money contains traces of cocaine:

You probably have cocaine in your wallet, purse, or pocket. Sound unlikely or outrageous? Think again! In what researchers describe as the largest, most comprehensive analysis to date of cocaine contamination in banknotes, scientists are reporting that cocaine is present in up to 90 percent of paper money in the United States, particularly in large cities such as Baltimore, Boston, and Detroit. The scientists found traces of cocaine in 95 percent of the banknotes analyzed from Washington, D.C., alone.

Presented here today at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, the new study suggests that cocaine abuse is still widespread and may be on the rise in some areas. It could help raise public awareness about cocaine use and lead to greater emphasis on curbing its abuse, the researchers say.

The scientists tested banknotes from more than 30 cities in five countries, including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, China, and Japan, and found “alarming” evidence of cocaine use in many areas. The U.S. and Canada had the highest levels, with an average contamination rate of between 85 and 90 percent, while China and Japan had the lowest, between 12 and 20 percent contamination. The study is the first report about cocaine contamination in Chinese and Japanese currencies, they say.“To my surprise, we’re finding more and more cocaine in banknotes,” said study leader Yuegang Zuo, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth.

Zuo says that the high percentage of contaminated U.S. currency observed in the current study represents nearly a 20 percent jump in comparison to a similar study he conducted two years ago. That earlier study indicated that 67 percent of bills in the U.S. contained traces of cocaine.

“I’m not sure why we’ve seen this apparent increase, but it could be related to the economic downturn, with stressed people turning to cocaine,” Zuo says. Such studies are useful, he noted, because the data can help law enforcement agencies and forensic specialists identify patterns of drug use in a community.Scientists have known for years that paper money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals and directly through drug use such as snorting cocaine through rolled bills. Contamination can spread to banknotes not involved in the illicit drug culture because bills are processed in banks’ currency-counting machines.

Previous studies on cocaine in banknotes, however, had several drawbacks. They often were based on sampling only a small number of banknotes, for instance. Some tests destroyed the currency.

In the new study, Zuo and colleagues describe use of a modified form of a standard laboratory instrument termed a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. It allows a faster, simpler and more accurate measurement of cocaine contamination than other methods, without destroying the currency. The researchers used the method to analyze banknotes of several different denominations from the five countries surveyed.

The U.S. had the highest levels. The scientists analyzed a total of 234 banknotes from the U.S. and found that up to 90 percent of the banknotes contain traces of cocaine. Amounts ranged from .006 micrograms (several thousands of times smaller than a single grain of sand) to over 1,240 micrograms of cocaine per banknote (about 50 grains of sand). For comparison: A grain of sand weighs approximately 23 micrograms; there are one million micrograms in a gram and 28 grams in an ounce.

The scientists collected U.S. banknotes from 17 U.S. cities and found that larger cities like Baltimore, Boston, and Detroit had among the highest average cocaine levels. Washington, D.C., ranked above the average, with 95 percent of the banknotes sampled contaminated with the drug. The lowest average cocaine levels in U.S. currency appeared in bills collected from Salt Lake City.

The researchers studied 27 banknotes from Canada and found that 85 percent were contaminated with cocaine, with amounts ranging from 2.4 micrograms to over 2,530 micrograms of coke per banknote. The researchers analyzed 10 banknotes from Brazil and found that 80 percent were contaminated with cocaine, still high but lower than the U.S. and Canada.

China and Japan had the lowest levels. The researchers analyzed 112 banknotes from China and found that about 20 percent were contaminated with cocaine. Of the 16 banknotes analyzed from Japan, only about 12 percent were contaminated with cocaine, the researchers say.

Despite the high percentage of cocaine-contaminated banknotes, Zuo points out that the amount of cocaine found on most notes was so small that consumers should not have any health or legal concerns about handling paper money.

“For the most part, you can’t get high by sniffing a regular banknote, unless it was used directly in drug uptake or during a drug exchange,” Zuo said. “It also won’t affect your health and is unlikely interfere with blood and urine tests used for drug detection.” This study was partly funded by the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

Ghana Now Able to Produce Cocaine Precursor

Citing it use in water treatment, a Ghanese chemist has announced a new technique to produce potassium permanganate domestically in Ghana.

Potassium permanganate is also a precursor chemical used in the manufacture of cocaine.

The United Nations has recently noted that West Africa appear to be evolving from a transit hub for narcotics distribution into production center for creating narcotics.

'Ndrangheta Strong in Germany

Approximately 229 'Ndrangheta families are living in Germany, and are involved in gun-running, money laundering, drug- dealing, and racketeering, as well as legal businesses.

Bosnia on the Brink

Bosnia is on the brink of collapse and chaos, according to England's Conservative Party shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague:

'People think the Balkans are what we debated in the 1990s and now we can forget about it. In fact, it's a crucial area in foreign policy in the next five to 10 years...'", he said.

The Flow of Cocaine From Curacao to Jamaica

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The most common means of transporting the drugs, police say, are strapping it on the body, swallowing pellets, stashing the drugs in false compartments in luggage and hiding it in rectangular parcels inside equipment.

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