Cocaine in the City of London

The City, London's financial district, played a major role in the recent financial meltdown. It also has a major cocaine problem

`Doing cocaine or drinking heavily is part of the City culture; you work hard and you play hard and you get rewarded because your bonus is fantastic....'

Talks Aimed at Breaking Bosnia’s Deadlock Continue :: BalkanInsight.com

Talks Aimed at Breaking Bosnia’s Deadlock Continue :: BalkanInsight.com:

The meeting, held in the EU peacekeeper’s camp Butmir near the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, took place amidst the biggest political crisis since the end of the Bosnian war. Vicious political rhetoric between local political leaders, that began in the run up to the 2006 general elections, has over the past three years continued to escalate, and has intensified over past months.

An Overview of Guinea Bissau

Photojournalist Joe Penney reflects on his recent sojourn in Guinea Bissau .

Perhaps the most poignant point he makes is that Guinea Bissau was born from a guerrilla uprising against Portugal. Given its current descent into the clutches of Global Guerrillas, this makes one ponder.

Venezuelan Radar and Cocaine Shipments to Africa

Despite American allegations that Chavez' Venezuela is aligned with drug traffickers, Chavez' government says that it actually is fighting drugs.

Whatever the truth of these competing allegations may be, note that, in particular, Venezuelans assert that their having installed a new radar system has slowed cocaine smuggling via airplane to Africa.

Meanwhile, recently reports have surfaced to the effect that much less cocaine is now being smuggled through Africa. These reports may be faulty, and it is difficult to cite any reason why this slowdown should have taken place. However, if they are correct, then the Venezuelan radar would be one of the few plausible explanations for such a slowdown.

Chavez Threatens to Defend Himself!

Douglas Farah expresses concern with Chavez' development with civilian militias

"Yet it fits perfectly with Chavez's conception of the coming asymmetrical battle agains the United States and the need his forces will have to retreat to the hinterlands to wage guerrilla warfare.

One countermeasure the United States might deploy to offset any threat these militias might pose to the troops would be to refrain from invading Venezuela in the first place.

Update: In fairness to Farah, note that he goes on to assert that Chavez' guerrillas could aid the FARC guerrillas in neighboring Columbia. Assuming Chavez did want to aid FARC, he would not need to form militia units to do so.

So We're NOT Going to Bomb Iran?

Like any American, I am of course, pleased that Obama, whom I voted for, has received the Nobel Peace Prize.

But this is very early in the day for such an award. And Col. Patrick Lang and a lot of other folks have been blogging furiously about whether Obama might be about to attack Iran and escalate in Afghanistan and such.

And even if Obama has no intention of escalating Iran or Afghanistan - Neville Chamberlain looked like Peace Prize material right after Munich.

It is one thing to award the prize to Jimmy Carter after a long and well documented career; but to award such a prize to any brand new president looks a lot like investing in bundles of mortgage derivatives.

Why Steal; Art?

The National considers what motivates thieves to steal art.

Factors:

• It's valuable;
  
• It's portable;
  
• Sentences are lighter than for drugs, gun running, or money laundering;
  
• Stolen art can be ransomed;
  
• Art can be used as a bargaining chip in exchange for cash or drugs.
  

Iranian Protests vs. G20 Protests: An Apparent Double Standard

In what appears to be a double standard, Elliot Madison, a G20 protester whose conduct appears to have resembled that of the Iranians protesting the recent Iranian elections, is being prosecuted by state and federal authorities. Both the Iranians and Madison used Twitter to communicate. The State Department and the media praised the Iranians, but prosecution - not praise - now befalls Madison.

We only have his side of the story, but here it is:

The Invisible Tide: Towards an International Strategy to Deal with Drug Trafficking Through West Africa

James Cockayne and Phil Williams, of the International Peace Institute, inThe Invisible Tide: Towards an International Strategy to Deal with Drug Trafficking Through West Africa, not only describe the drug situation in West Africa but also propose these policy solutions:

• Increase attention at the political and strategic levels;
  
• Develop a state-based Forum on West African Drug
  Trafficking (FWADT);
  
• Increase social resilience; and
  
• Create international law enforcement to complement the nations' of West Africa's enforcement.
  

Jackie Selebi

Jackie Selebi former national commissioner of the South African Police Service, and a former president of Interpol, is currently on trial for corruption.

Prosecutors allege he has had links to organized crime and received approximately $160,000.00 in bribes to ignore drug trafficking.

Drug Bust Scenario

United States v. Collado
provides a concise description of a customs interception of a drug smuggling operation:

In the early hours of January 27, 1994, the U.S. Customs Service Air Branch dispatched two aircraft to the southeast of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands after learning that an air drop of contraband was to take place. The plane making an air drop was not found, but a vessel was detected in the suspected area, east of Puerto Rico, by a Customs NOMAD maritime surveillance and search aircraft equipped with a 360-degree radar ("Omaha 05"). Pilot Mark Jackson first observed the vessel from his window at approximately 3:33 a.m., aided by bright moonlight. He testified that the vessel was traveling without lights and quickly, leaving behind observable waves. The air interdiction officer who assisted him, Leslie Robb, immediately located the vessel using a forward looking infrared (FLIR) system. This equipment senses heat energy emitted by objects and produces black and white images which can be recorded on videotape, as was done here.

Omaha 05 tracked the vessel for about forty-five minutes until it reached Cayo Luis Pena, an uninhabited key near the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. During this period the vessel occasionally stopped; Officer Robb testified that smugglers often use this tactic of going "dead in the water" (DIW) in order to listen for surveillance aircraft and avoid detection. Omaha 05 lost track of the vessel at least twice during this period. Contact resumed within a few minutes each time, according to the videotape and testimony by Robb.

After the vessel reached Cayo Luis Pena, Officer Robb observed at least three people moving to and from the shore. The vessel departed seven to ten minutes later, at about 4:30 a.m. It traveled westward without lights at a gradually increasing speed. Omaha 05 tracked the vessel for about forty minutes and then lost contact at 5:09 a.m. for twelve minutes. Officer Robb explained at trial that he lost the target vessel when it went DIW and his attention was focused on the radar, instead of the FLIR (a manual tracking system), in order to direct a Customs marine unit to the target vessel. Robb temporarily was unable to detect any vessel in the area. He then located the Customs marine unit and a fuerzas unidas rapida accion (FURA) vessel of the Puerto Rican Police Department, and at 5:21 a.m. reacquired the target vessel on the FLIR. The vessel was less than one mile from the point where it was lost. Robb testified that no other vessels were detected in the area.

Omaha 05, assisted by a FURA helicopter, guided the Customs marine unit to intercept the target vessel. Pedro Vicens, a special agent and criminal investigator on the Customs boat, testified that four individuals[2] were aboard the twenty-four foot fishing boat which had two seventy-five horsepower engines. The vessel had two large gas tanks built into the area that customarily stores fishing equipment or bait. Approaching the vessel, Vicens sensed a strong odor of gasoline. He soon observed that the boat was full of fluid and gasoline: the fuel line had been cut, gas was coming from the tank, and individuals aboard appeared to be bailing out gasoline from the bottom of the vessel and moving as if to wash something. He testified that washing the deck to conceal any smell or residue of narcotics was a common practice of drug smugglers.

Nigerian Kabuki

As anyone who has been following the Nigerian delta situation knows, it proceeds according to the following pattern:

1. Rebels kidnap somebody or otherwise disrupt things;
   
2. Nigerian government counterattacks;
   
3. A ceasefire is declared;
   
4. The rebels call the ceasefire off;
   
5. Repeat the above.
   

So the following headline is pretty routine:

Nigerian militants vow to resume attacks next week - washingtonpost.com

But enquiring minds would like to know what is really going on.

Why Not J. K. Rowling?

Once again, somebody I have never heard of before has won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Reportedly she is someone:

“who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.”

Sounds like great fun.

Scuffle With Security Contractors Highlights Iraqis' New Clout in Green Zone - washingtonpost.com

Henry Louis Gates could advise American contractors in Iraq that you don't give the police lip. And this is just as true with Iraqi police in Iraq as Cambridge police in the USa:

Scuffle With Security Contractors Highlights Iraqis' New Clout in Green Zone - washingtonpost.com

Hearing on Transnational Drug Enterprises: Threats to Global Stability and U.S. National Security from Southwest Asia, Latin America, and West Africa :: Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs :: United States House of Representatives

Hearing on Transnational Drug Enterprises: Threats to Global Stability and U.S. National Security from Southwest Asia, Latin America, and West Africa :: Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs :: United States House of Representatives

On Thursday, October 1, 2009, the Subcommittee held an oversight hearing entitled, “Transnational Drug Enterprises: Threats to Global Stability and U.S. National Security from Southwest Asia, Latin America, and West Africa.” This hearing, the first in a series, explored the global trade in narcotics as a transnational issue and examined the relationship between drugs, failed and weak states, and related threats to U.S. national security. The hearing featured witnesses with expertise in counternarcotics operations, regional drug traffic patterns, and drug trade as a driver of conflict.

Witness List:

•Eric Olson, Senior Advisor, Security Initiative, Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars;

•David Mansfield, University Research Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, the Kennedy School at Harvard University;

•Douglas Farah, Senior Fellow, International Assessment and Strategy Center and former West Africa Bureau Chief of the Washington Post; and

•Vanda Felbab-Brown, Ph. D., Foreign Policy Fellow, Brookings Institute and Adjunct Professor, Security Studies Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

To view a webcast of the hearing, please click on the link below:

Click Here
Documents and Links

* Testimony of Mr. Eric L. Olson (61 KB)
* Testimony of Mr. David Mansfield (78 KB)
* Testimony of Mr. Douglas Farah (246 KB)
* Testimony of Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown (48 KB)
* Written Statement of General Barry McCaffrey (Ret.) (73 KB)

Costa Rica, Panama in the Crossfire

As Mexico’s drug wars spread south beyond Guatemala and Honduras, normally peaceful countries have fallen under the crossfire, Samuel Logan and John P Sullivan write for ISN Security Watch.

As Mexico’s drug wars spread south beyond Guatemala and Honduras, normally peaceful countries have fallen under the crossfire, Samuel Logan and John P Sullivan write for ISN Security Watch.

By Samuel Logan and John P Sullivan for ISN Security Watch

Colombia and Costa Rica reaffirmed counternarcotics cooperation on 16 September, underscoring the reality of a new threat to security facing Costa Rica, a country known as the Switzerland of Central America.

While most analysts consider Central America’s northern triangle countries - Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras - to be the most affected by the regional drug trade, Costa Rica and Panama have in 2009 become de facto passageways, warehouses and money laundering fronts for both Mexican and Colombian organized crime.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that seizures of cocaine have increased dramatically in Panama and Costa Rica over the last few years.

In 2000, seizures of cocaine in Panama and Costa Rica amounted to 7,400 and 5,871 kilograms, respectively. By 2007, this quantity had risen to 60,000 and 32,435 kilos for both states, respectively.

This surge dramatically underscores the growing importance of these nations in the cross-Hemisphere drug trade. They have been caught in the crossfire of Mexico’s drug wars.

Panama ‘red’

Many analysts observe that Panama could be an emerging narco-battleground. In addition to a suspected 2,000 coastal hideouts for maritime traffickers, there is an emphasis on overland drug routes.

“Around 65 percent of the drug smuggling traffic through Costa Rica and Panama is maritime, and most of the rest is over land,” Paul Knierim, an Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with experience in Central America and currently working as the staff coordinator in congressional and public affairs, told ISN Security Watch.

Extreme violence is also on the upswing. In April, alleged members of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel abducted two suspected Envigado Cartel members outside Panama City’s Metro Plaza mall, just one sign of the country’s burgeoning drug trade. It is fueling a new generation of gangs (108 gangs at current count), paid ‘in-kind’ with drugs by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and other traffickers.

Costa Rica: Encroaching on paradise

On 30 September, it was announced that Costa Rica would receive an additional $1 million in Merida funds to combat drug trafficking (this is on top of an initial $4.3 million allocated earlier this year). The funds are targeted to bolster the police and enhance efforts to counter money laundering.

“Contrary to the Mexico portion of the Merida Initiative, the Central American portion [also] includes a significant amount of funds for violence prevention. We were pleased to see that almost a third of the funding for the first year was earmarked for prevention and community policing efforts,” Adriana Beltran, senior associate for citizen security for the Washington Office on Latin America, told ISN Security Watch.

But Bruce Bagley, chair of the Department of International Studies with the University of Miami, remains cautious. “Costa Rica is a target of opportunity and must be aware of and alert to its institutional vulnerability,” he told ISN Security Watch.

Costa Rican police assigned to counterdrug duties had amounted to 183 officials assigned to the Policia de Control de Drogas (PCD). These officers are charged with combating a half-billion dollar drug trade that moves at least 1,000 tons of cocaine annually.

Since the second year of President Oscar Arias’ administration, when law enforcement registered a 400 percent increase in the amount of larger shipments - 500 to 1,000 kilos - moving through Costa Rica, the country has begun to organize a cohesive strategy to fight back, but observers are still concerned about what’s on the horizon.

Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua are not only shifting from transit to processing territories, they are becoming drug-consuming nations as well. The increased presence of drugs and drug gangs is stimulating a rise in crime and violence. Central America’s most peaceful countries may find a serious security challenge ahead.

"We haven't yet seen an escalation of violence, but there is concern, so we're focused on preventative maintenance and going after the kingpins," Knierim said.

Earlier this year, in March, gunmen stole some 320 kilos of confiscated cocaine from a guarded storage unit in Golfito, a commercial center near the border with Panama. Security measures failed again, in May, when a helicopter carrying an estimated 347 kilograms of cocaine crashed on Costa Rica’s notorious Cerro de la Muerte, allegedly en route to a warehouse located near Turrialba, a small town just east of the capital, San Jose.

At the time, Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio stated that “the presence of Mexican cartels in Costa Rica is worrisome,” adding that the helicopter crash supported her analysis that Costa Rica is used for cocaine warehousing as much as it has been used for transshipment. Del Vecchio also recently told the Tico Times, that “[preventing drug trafficking] isn’t just a fight on the seas, it’s also a fight in the streets […].”

Despite concerns of corruption, Knierim remains very supportive of Costa Rica’s security forces. "In my time in Costa Rica, I've had the pleasure of working very closely with their drug police and judicial police, and they are some of the most professional, hard working cops in Central America," he said.

By land or sea

Drug traffickers have begun to use littoral routes on the Pacific side, as close as five to 10 miles off shore. At any sign of trouble, a number of estuaries and rivers provide cover. Some don’t manage to hide.

On 7 September, officers with Costa Rica’s Drug Control Police (PCD) stopped two fishermen steaming north about seven miles off shore and interdicted 1,095 kilos of cocaine. Just two weeks prior, officers seized 382 kilos of cocaine out of a boat parked on Garabito beach, near Jaco, a world renowned surf destination.

On land, the best route north into Nicaragua and beyond is through Peñas Blancas, the border crossing in Costa Rica’s northwestern corner. Both countries have placed a high priority on guarding this passage as it is considered a bottleneck for illicit shipments moving north over land.

One unintended consequence, however, is that more weight will pass through Costa Rica’s disreputable Limon port on the Caribbean coast, where officers seized 110 kilos of cocaine from four dock workers who were offloading a container that had arrived from the Colombian port town of Turbo, on the Uraba Bay, a long known drugs export zone.

Drug trafficking and the endemic criminal violence it breeds are a threat to the entire Western Hemisphere. The southern states of Central America are just encountering the risk involved.

At least two Mexican cartels, the rival Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels are active throughout Central America. It is near certain that the Zetas and others are active as well. Add to this the traditional Colombian cartels and transnational, third-generation gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha, and the potential for cross-border drug wars and criminal insurgencies rises.

Colombia’s war on cartels pushes them to Dominican coasts - DominicanToday.com

Colombia’s war on cartels pushes them to Dominican coasts - DominicanToday.com

Columbia's ambassador to the Dominican Republic states that Columbia's War on Drugs has caused drug traffickers to shift to the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean nations.

Russia's Answer to Blackwater

A Russian company, analogous to Blackwater (a.k.a., "Xe"), offers a "unique approach" to providing security in Iraq:

Guatemala and other central American countries becoming more violent than Mexico

Guatemala and other central American countries becoming more violent than Mexico

How Criminals Find One Another

How do criminals find one another and figure out that their new associates also are genuine criminals? Halfway through this BBC broadcast, you'll find out.

Even the Gulag Couldn't Break Russia's Criminal Network

This account of the Soviet-era origins of the Russian Mafiya shows that even totalitarianism combined with Gulag could not break the back of Russia's criminal network:

Britain's Criminal Justice System Is Being Overwhelmed by Organized Crime

Britain's Criminal Justice System Is Being Overwhelmed by Organized Crime:

His comments reflect concern in Whitehall that the scale of organised crime in Britain is so vast that it outstrips the capacity of the criminal justice system. Between 25,000 and 30,000 individuals in around 4,000 criminal groups have been identified as running a black economy worth up to �40bn, according to a recent Cabinet Office report.

Tracing Hawala

Tracing Hawala:

Luckily, the common perception that Hawala financing is paperless is wrong. The transfer of information regarding the funds often leaves digital (though heavily encrypted) trails. Couriers and "contract memorizers", gold dealers, commodity merchants, transporters, and moneylenders can be apprehended and interrogated. Written, physical, letters are still the favourite mode of communication among small and medium Hawaladars, who also invariably resort to extremely detailed single entry bookkeeping. And the sudden appearance and disappearance of funds in bank accounts still have to be explained. Moreover, the sheer scale of the amounts involved entails the collaboration of off shore banks and more established financial institutions in the West. Such flows of funds affect the local money markets in Asia and are instantaneously reflected in interest rates charged to frequent borrowers, such as wholesalers. Spending and consumption patterns change discernibly after such influxes. Most of the money ends up in prime world banks behind flimsy business facades. Hackers in Germany claimed (without providing proof) to have infiltrated Hawala-related bank accounts.

Profile of a Suspicious Trawler

Profile of a Suspicious Trawler:

[T]heir suspicions were aroused as the rusty trawler, with no nets in sight, ploughed through an area notorious for drug traffickers.

What About Vampires?

By now, the recent unveiling of our most ancient ancestor, Ardipithecus ramidus, has become well known, so scientists - constructing the proverbial brontosaurus* out of a tail bone - are now drawing sweeping inferences.

For example, they say our ancestors' small canines mean they had touchy-feely sex lives:

Ardipithecus: We Meet At Last | The Loom | Discover Magazine

Those of you reading this post that have a Y chromosome have canine teeth that are about the same size as those of my XX readers. The same rule applies to the teeth of some other primate species. But in still other species, the males have much bigger canines than the females. The difference corresponds fairly well to the kind of social lives these primates have. Big canines are a sign of intense competition between males. Canine teeth in some primate species get honed into sharp daggers that males can use as weapons in battles for territory and for the opportunity to mate with females.

Men have stubby canines, which many scientists take as a sign that the competition between males became less intense in our hominid lineage. That was likely due to a shift in family life. Male chimpanzees compete with each other to mate with females, but they don’t help with the kids when they’re born. Humans form long-term bonds, with fathers helping mothers by, for example, getting more food for the kids to eat. There’s still male-male competition in our lineage, but it’s a lot less intense than in other species.

Which gives rise to the question of - if this is true - then what does that tell us about vampires?

Touchy-feely fellows vampires are not, but any survey of vampire literature would demonstrate they they have other uses for their canines besides hyper-macho contests for female vampires.

So let us drive a stake through all this overblown speculation about 4 million year old apeman sex - at least until we invent a time machine that would allow us to go back and observe things directly. All we have is one skeleton and a few other remains. Which by itself is fascinating, but which by itself tells us little.



* For those of you who do not follow these things, nowadays "brontosaurus" is called "apatosaurus" for some reason; and, no, birds are apparently not descended from them.

Jamaica is a Place, Not a Society

A commentator's view of Jamaica's social disorder:

The economic problems that we face are just one side of a horrible equation of imbalance in the society. One is convinced that even if we should, by some miracle, cause our economic problems to evapaorate, we would still be in a terrible bind because our economic problems are just a symptom of a far more pernicious disease that is eating away at the fabric of the society.

To begin with, we have not even begun philosophically to understand what being a nation is all about. We are thrown together on a piece of real estate about 4,411 square miles large. In the main, we hold to a common ancestry of slavery. Outside of a sporadic burst of pride that comes when our athletes perform brilliantly abroad, or when necessity forces us together in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, there is no patriotic fervour or loyalty that binds us together as a people.

There is no unifying vision around which we can organise to build a viable society. We hypocritically trumpet the cliché that we are our brothers' keepers, but deep down it is everyone for himself when the crunch time comes. We talk about justice, but we know deep down that justice is selective and can be bought if you have the right amount of cash. The ordinary man in the street knows that justice is divisible, that there is a justice for the rich and one for the poor and vulnerable. Often he can only get his version of it when he takes matters into his own hands by using his own version of mob justice.

At a time when we should be pulling together, we are more fractured than we have ever been as a society

The Ethnic Dimensions of Guinea's Strife

The soldiers in Guinea who massacred protestersbelonged to one tribe; while the protesters belonged to another:

'Soldiers are prowling the neighbourhood [Bambeto, on 29 September]. When they see a resident they say: 'You move, we shoot'. They say: 'It's you, Peulhs, who want to get in our way. We are going to exterminate you all.''
[Peulh is one of Guinea’s main ethnic groups; junta leader Camara is Guerze, a group from the Forest Region]

Courtauld “fake” exposed as a real Dutch period piece | The Art Newspaer

Not only can art experts be fooled by clever forgeries, sometimes they fail to recognize genuine masterpieces. A painting thought to be by notorious Vermeer forger, Han van Meegeren, turns out to have been a genuine Vermeer.

Police 'deal mortal blow' to Panama-to-Israel cocaine ring - Haaretz - Israel News

A Panama to Israel cocaine ring has been busted.

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.