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Sunday, May 17, 2020

Mexican Drug Cartel Background, Random Stuff, and More

- if you didn't already know most organised crime normally arises from people who couldn't find a place within normal society. This can mean mean unemployed people, people's whose political ideas are being suppressed, people who are just attracted to the idea (narco culture), people who are corrupt and looking to make more or extra money (bribes in the four to five figure range are quite common), etc... Organised crime such as the cartels are simply a group of such people who band together and try to find a way to make money (much like a company in the more legitimate world). In the beginning this can mean small scale crime. Generally, they move upwards towards more serious crime that spans international borders? Obviously, a lot of the following information can be applied to many organised crime groups and not just the cartels...
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1097570371905/cocaine-and-crude-mexican-drug-cartels
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cartel+cocaine+and+crude
Mexican Oil and Drug Cartels: Cocaine & Crude (Full Length)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPEfArQU7tc
Cocaine: why the cartels are winning | The Economist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hopYEuFA0g4
Mexico’s oil thieves cost industry billions of dollars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP-gHVZJ1-c
The Gangs That Inherited Pablo Escobar's Drug Empire: Cooking with Cocaine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1EHm2_CNkM
The Rise of Mexican Black Tar Heroin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_PQ407GkOs
Paco: The Poor Man's Drug in Buenos Aires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXdh00GdS88
New Chicago DEA boss targets 'Trafficking Jam' by 2 drug cartels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tVGDJ3Vo7o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_leaf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_paste
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tar_heroin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_base
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)
A Bloody Week in Ciudad Juarez - A cartel killer tells all
Crystal Meth and Cartels in the Philippines - The Shabu Trap
Escobar's Hitman. Former drug-gang killer, now loved and loathed in Colombia
From High School Star to Mexican Drug Cartel
Gunfight between cartel and Mexico patrol over capture of El Chapo's son
Honest Interview with Drug Cartel Hitman _ Meet The Drug Lords - Inside The Real Narcos
Inside Mexico’s Warring Cartels and the Millions of People They’ve Displaced
Life Inside One Of Mexico’s Deadliest Towns
The Mexican Mormon War (Drug Cartels vs. Mormons Full Length)
history cartel
The birth of most Mexican drug cartels is traced to former Mexican Judicial Federal Police agent Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Spanish: El Padrino, lit. 'The Godfather'), who founded the Guadalajara Cartel in 1980 and controlled most of the illegal drug trade in Mexico and the trafficking corridors across the Mexico–U.S. border along with Juan García Ábrego throughout the 1980s.[140] He started off by smuggling marijuana and opium into the U.S., and was the first Mexican drug chief to link up with Colombia's cocaine cartels in the 1980s. Through his connections, Félix Gallardo became the person at the forefront of the Medellín Cartel, which was run by Pablo Escobar.[141] This was easily accomplished because Gallardo had already established a marijuana trafficking infrastructure that stood ready to serve the Colombia-based cocaine traffickers.
There were no other cartels at that time in Mexico.[141]:41 Félix Gallardo was the lord of Mexican drug smugglers.[141] He oversaw all operations; there was just him, his cronies, and the politicians who sold him protection.[141] However, the Guadalajara Cartel suffered a major blow in 1985 when the group's co-founder Rafael Caro Quintero was captured, and later convicted, for the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena.[142][143] Félix Gallardo afterwards kept a low profile and in 1987 he moved with his family to Guadalajara. According to Peter Dale Scott, the Guadalajara Cartel prospered largely because it enjoyed the protection of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS), under its chief Miguel Nazar Haro.[144]
Félix Gallardo was arrested on April 8, 1989.[145] He then decided to divide up the trade he controlled as it would be more efficient and less likely to be brought down in one law enforcement swoop.[141]:47 In a way, he was privatizing the Mexican drug business while sending it back underground, to be run by bosses who were less well known or not yet known by the DEA. Gallardo sent his lawyer to convene the nation's top drug traffickers at a house in Acapulco where he designated the plazas or territories.[141][146]
The Tijuana route would go to his nephews the Arellano Felix brothers. The Ciudad Juárez route would go to the Carrillo Fuentes family. Miguel Caro Quintero would run the Sonora corridor. Meanwhile, Joaquín Guzmán Loera and Ismael Zambada García would take over Pacific coast operations, becoming the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzmán and Zambada brought veteran Héctor Luis Palma Salazar back into the fold. The control of the Matamoros, Tamaulipas corridor—then becoming the Gulf Cartel—would be left undisturbed to its founder Juan García Ábrego, who was not a party to the 1989 pact.[147]
Félix Gallardo still planned to oversee national operations, as he maintained important connections, but he would no longer control all details of the business.[141] When he was transferred to a high-security prison in 1993, he lost any remaining control over the other drug lords.[148]
profitability drug cartels
Drug cartels have operated in Mexico for well over a century and until not long ago without significant violence occurring. Since 2006, however, when the Mexican government started to actively prosecute cartels with military force, violence has erupted to unseen levels. As the efforts against drug cartels increased, so too did the killings, mostly of drug cartel members, and expansion of cartels into new areas.
Before 2005, drug cartels operated in about 20% of the 2456 municipalities in the country, but by 2010, cartels had spreadto nearly 40%.  The dramatic expansion of drug cartels into new territories provides a unique opportunity to assess the immediate socio-economic impact of cartels suddenly moving into new areas which had never previously experienced drug trafficking or drug violence.
Do drug cartels benefit local economies?
In Mexico, as has been the case in other similar countries afflicted by drug cartels, there is a myth that the cartels benefit the local economies where they operate. After all, Mexican cartels generate substantial profits– an estimated $6.6 billion in gross revenue annually, just from exporting drugs to the US alone. The high risk of being caught or killed by drug violence has clearly not deterred many from seeing the illicit drug economy as a quick escape out of poverty.
Unlike other research to date, Gutiérrez-Romero and Oviedo (2018) explore the potential benefits that cartels might bring to local economies in Mexico. To disentangle the effects of drug violence and drug trafficking, they first focus on the municipalities that drug cartels moved into for the first time in 2006, or soon afterwards, which did not experience any drug-related homicides. These are typically areas where the drug cartels held the full monopoly of the newly “conquered” territory, avoiding confrontations with the authority and other rival cartels.
The areas where cartels managed to operate ‘peacefully’ did not see any benefits in terms of poverty or unemployment levels as these remained unchanged compared to similar areas free of cartels and drug-related homicides. Specifically, extreme poverty, the percentage of the population that does not have enough income to buy a basic food basket, remained at around 30% in those areas affected by cartels. Capability poverty (adding those who cannot cover health and education needs), remained at approximately 40% . Overall, then, these findings contradict the anecdotal storytelling that cartels benefit local economies and help local populations escape poverty and unemployment.
What are the effects of drug-related violence on local economies?
Gutiérrez-Romero and Oviedo also estimatethe impact on municipalities where drug cartels moved during around 2006 which didexperience drug-related homicides. They find drug violence has displaced both poor and rich people, forcing them to move to nearby areas less affected by the violence. Despite this displacement of people, poverty has continued to rise in the areas affected by violence, albeit by a small margin (overall 3% extra to the already high levels of food and capability poverty mentioned above).
“Mafia bosses consider their cities as their own fiefdom,” Gratteri said. “The bosses know very well that in order to govern, they need to take care of the people in their territory. And they do it by exploiting the situation to their advantage. In the people’s eyes, a boss who knocks on the door offering free food is a hero. And the boss knows that he can then count on the support of these families when necessary, when, for example, the mafia sponsors a politician for election who will further their criminal interests.”
Dozens of investigations in the south have led to the arrests of politicians who have aided and abetted the mafia, and who were elected with the support of local Mafiosi who forced citizens to vote for them in exchange for services, such as a simple food parcel.
Varese said: “These handouts by the mafias are not gifts. The mafia does not do anything out of its kind heart. They are favours that everyone will have to pay back in some form or another, by aiding and abetting a fugitive, holding a gun, dealing drugs and the like.”
“Consider what happened to El Chapo, the Mexican narco,” said Gratteri. “He trafficked tons of cocaine and commissioned the murder of hundreds of people but in his hometown he was known for his benevolence, because people said that he provided medicines to families or built roads. The same thing happens here.”
This week, Itay’s antimafia prosecutor’s office said bosses would offer their virtually endless criminal capital to businesses in need, and then swallow them up. Then, they will use those businesses for money laundering profits from the criminal activities.
Varese said: “The mafias might be able to benefit in other ways from the current lockdown and especially from the future, when Italians will all be able to return to work, spend more money, and get the economy on its feet again. But surely the story exemplified by the handouts of food parcels in Palermo and Naples shows their true nature, and it tells why they are so dangerous.”
history mafia
The Mafia, a network of organized-crime groups based in Italy and America, evolved over centuries in Sicily, an island ruled until the mid-19th century by a long line of foreign invaders. Sicilians banded together in groups to protect themselves and carry out their own justice. In Sicily, the term “mafioso,” or Mafia member, initially had no criminal connotations and was used to refer to a person who was suspicious of central authority. By the 19th century, some of these groups emerged as private armies, or “mafie,” who extorted protection money from landowners and eventually became the violent criminal organization known today as the Sicilian Mafia. The American Mafia, which rose to power in the 1920s, is a separate entity from the Mafia in Italy, although they share such traditions as omerta, a code of conduct and loyalty.
The Mafia arose in Sicily during the late Middle Ages, where it possibly began as a secret organization dedicated to overthrowing the rule of the various foreign conquerors of the island—e.g., Saracens, Normans, and Spaniards. The Mafia owed its origins and drew its members from the many small private armies, or mafie, that were hired by absentee landlords to protect their landed estates from bandits in the lawless conditions that prevailed over much of Sicily through the centuries. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the energetic ruffians in these private armies organized themselves and grew so powerful that they turned against the landowners and became the sole law on many of the estates, extorting money from the landowners in return for protecting the latter’s crops. The Mafia survived and outlasted Sicily’s successive foreign governments because the latter were often so despotic that they alienated the island’s inhabitants and made tolerable the Mafia’s peculiar system of private justice, which was regulated by a complicated moral code. This code was based on omertà—i.e., the obligation never, under any circumstances, to apply for justice to the legal authorities and never to assist in any way in the detection of crimes committed against oneself or others. The right to avenge wrongs was reserved for the victims and their families, and to break the code of silence was to incur reprisals from the Mafia. By about 1900 the various Mafia “families” and groups of families based in the villages of western Sicily had joined together in a loose confederation, and they controlled most of the economic activities in their respective localities.
history yakuza
Despite uncertainty about the single origin of yakuza organizations, most modern yakuza derive from two social classifications which emerged in the mid-Edo period (1603–1868): tekiya, those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen, or shoddy goods; and bakuto, those who were involved in or participated in gambling.[10]
Tekiya (peddlers) ranked as one of the lowest social groups during the Edo period. As they began to form organizations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities.[11] During Shinto festivals, these peddlers opened stalls and some members were hired to act as security. Each peddler paid rent in exchange for a stall assignment and protection during the fair.
The tekiya were a highly structured and hierarchical group with the oyabun (boss) at the top and kobun (gang members) at the bottom.[12] This hierarchy resembles a structure similar to the family - the oyabun was often regarded[by whom?] as a surrogate father, and the kobun as surrogate children.[12] During the Edo period, the government formally recognized the tekiya. At this time, the oyabun were appointed[by whom?] as supervisors and granted near-samurai status, meaning they were allowed the dignity of a surname and two swords.[13]
Bakuto (gamblers) had a much lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edges of towns and villages all over Japan. Most of these gambling houses ran loan-sharking businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel. Society at large regarded the gambling houses themselves, as well as the bakuto, with disdain. Much of the undesirable image of the Yakuza originates from bakuto; this includes the name Yakuza itself.
Because of the economic situation during the mid-period[when?] and the predominance of the merchant class, developing Yakuza groups were composed of misfits and delinquents who had joined or formed Yakuza groups to extort customers in local markets by selling fake or shoddy goods.[clarification needed]
The roots of the Yakuza survive today in initiation ceremonies, which incorporate tekiya or bakuto rituals. Although the modern Yakuza has diversified, some gangs still identify with one group or the other; for example, a gang whose primary source of income is illegal gambling may refer to themselves as bakuto.
triad history
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "triad" is a translation of the Chinese term San Ho Hui (or Triple Union Society), referring to the union of heaven, earth and humanity.[5] Another theory posits that the word "triad" was coined by British authorities in colonial Hong Kong as a reference to the triads' use of triangular imagery.[6] It has been speculated that triad organizations took after, or were originally part of, revolutionary movements such as the White Lotus,[7] the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions and the Heaven and Earth Society.
The generic use of the word "triads" for all Chinese criminal organizations is imprecise; triad groups are geographically, ethnically, culturally and structurally unique. "Triads" are traditional organized-crime groups originating from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.[3] Criminal organizations operating in, or originating from, mainland China are "mainland Chinese criminal groups" or "black societies".[2] After years of repression, only some elements of triad groups are involved with illegal activities. Triads in Hong Kong are less involved with "traditional" criminal activity and are becoming associated with white-collar crime; traditional initiation ceremonies rarely take place to avoid official attention. Rumors have it that triads have now migrated to the U.S and all groups and factions have now joined and aligned themselves as one large group. There are no longer any separations with rivals or groups, including United Bamboo and 14k.[8]
Triad, a China-based criminal organization, secret association or club, was a branch of the secret Hung Society. The society was fragmented, and one group (known as the Triad and the Ching Gang) became a criminal organization. After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, secret societies in mainland China were suppressed in campaigns ordered by Mao Zedong. Most Chinese secret societies, including the triads and some of the remaining Ching Gang, relocated to British-controlled Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and overseas countries (particularly the US) and competed with the Tong and other Chinese secret societies. Gradually, Chinese secret societies turned to drugs and extortion for income.[9]
israeli mafia
North-African and Middle Eastern crime families
The immigration of Egyptian and Moroccan Jews to Israel and their settlement in the more impoverished neighborhoods led to the creation of crime families among Maghrebi Jews.[5] This is evident in the fact that a large number of Israeli organized criminals have fled to Morocco in recent years.[6] Israeli crime families of Moroccan Jewish descent expanded their operations to Europe and the USA, especially with their involvement in drug trafficking.[7] Some of Israel's more well-known crime families are of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish descent: the Abergil crime family as well as the Abutbul and Domrani clans are originally from Morocco,[8] the Alperon clan came from Egypt, and the Shirazi clan from Iran.
Israeli Arab organized crime
Israeli-Arab organized crime groups were formed in Israel. Some Arab-majority cities and towns are home to local crime families.[9] Clans like Tayibe based Abdel-Kader family are involved in extortion, drug and weapon trafficking, fraud as well as money laundering, often in cooperation with their Jewish counterparts.[10] One Arab crime family, the Jarushi family from Ramla, is one of the most powerful crime families in Israel.[11] Another example was the criminal gang around Moussa Aliyan in New York City whose main business was the importation of heroin.[12]
Russian mafia
The Russian mafia in Israel began with the mass immigration of Russian Jews to Israel in 1989.[13] Jewish Russian crime bosses such as Semion Mogilevich acquired Israeli citizenship and laundered money through Israel.
The Russian mafia saw Israel as an ideal place to launder money, as Israel's banking system was designed to encourage aliyah, the immigration of Jews, and the accompanying capital. Following the trend of global financial deregulation, Israel had also implemented legislation aimed at easing the movement of capital. Combined with the lack of anti-money laundering legislation, Russian organised crime found it an easy place to transfer ill-gotten gains. In 2005, police estimated that Russian organised crime had laundered between $5 and 10 billion in the fifteen years since the end of the Soviet Union. Non-Jewish criminals such as Sergei Mikhailov sought to get Israeli passports, using fake Jewish documentation.[14]
Russian and Ukrainian Jewish criminals have also been able to set up networks in the United States, following the large migration of Russian Jews to New York City and Miami, but also in European cities such as Berlin and Antwerp. Russian-Jewish mobsters include Marat Balagula, Evsei Agron and their respective criminal gangs in the United States. Soviet-Jewish criminal groups in the United States are involved in racketeering, prostitution, drug trafficking, extortion, and gasoline fraud as well as murder.[15]
Georgian organized crime
Family-based organized crime groups were formed among Georgian Jewish immigrants to Israel as well.[16] Georgian-Jewish crime families have been able to expand their operations to Western European cities such as Antwerp. They are involved in counterfeiting, fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, weapon trafficking, prostitution and armed robbery. Such was the case with the Georgian-Jewish Melikhov clan in Antwerp.[17][18]
african mafia
Organized crime in Nigeria includes a number of fraudsters, drug traffickers and racketeers of various sorts originating from Nigeria. Nigerian criminal gangs rose to prominence in the 1980s, owing much to the globalization of the world's economies and the high level of lawlessness already in the country.
mafia history
organised crime history
mafia uprising
mafia homicide trend
“You know the gig economy?” he also said. “Well, we’ve got a gig Mafia now.”
Christian Cipollini, a crime historian, author, and blogger, shared a similar view with Vice in 2015 when describing a disrupted industry. “The American Mafia had based a lot of its progress on the assistance of politicians, the supply of contraband, and rackets across the board,” he said. “As time went on, there were fewer people taking payoffs, younger and more savvy organizations excelled in the drug trade, and many of the rackets the Mafia dominated—well, they just don’t exist anymore.”
A string of mob convictions and defections in the ’80s and ’90s also left New York’s five families weakened, just as other criminal organizations, including the Russian mafia, were rising, Gale also said.
But it’s not only in the US where the Mafia is shape-shifting and attracting freelancers. A 2015 study of organized crime in the EU described “conglomerations of career criminals who temporarily join with others to commit crimes until they are completed and then reform with others to commit new crimes,” writes the Independent.
That report called on law enforcement agencies to rethink their approach to shutting down the now “adaptable” mob networks, which were no longer about hierarchy and tradition.
- people are clueless as to how well resourced many organised crime groups are? The cartels alone have submarines, boat fleet, torpedoes, aircraft fleet, tanks, drones, likely secure communications capability, military training and assault weapons, anti-aircraft systems, etc? Well organised (there is a clear comical aspect to this when you compare their capabilities to that of many police forces). Note also, that it seems to be easier to battle terrorist groups then battling major organised crime groups?
Inside Mexico's Drug Labs _ Narco State _ Sky News
Video of intense firefight at 'El Chapo' Guzman's hideout
Violent clashes erupt between cartel gunmen and police in Mexico
Chaos in Mexico after gun fight
genetic manipulation coca
genetic manipulation opium
cartel submarine
A narco-submarine (also called drug sub) is a type of custom-made ocean-going self-propelled submersible vessel built by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs.[2] They are especially known to be used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, which is often then transported overland to the United States.[3][4] Concerns have also been raised that such vessels could be utilized for purposes of terrorism.[5] The capabilities of these craft has noticeably increased (some are now capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean); their operating places and circles have widened; and their numbers have taken a great jump.[6]
Newer narco-submarines are nearly fully submersible, designed specifically to be difficult to detect visually or by radar, sonar and infrared systems.[3]
Cargoes carried are typically several tons of cocaine. For example, in 2015 a cargo of 7.7 tonnes (17,000 lb) was seized on a semi-submersible which had been tracked by aircraft, the largest ever recorded.[7]
secure communications cartel
cartel drones
Authorities in Colombia claim to have discovered a new method of trafficking illegal drugs, but it is not the only innovative smuggling technique being used by the country’s more sophisticated criminal groups.
On October 23, the Colombian Navy discovered 73 kilograms of cocaine submerged underwater and attached by rope to a docked Panamanian sailboat named “Solar Storm.” Divers recovered eight packages filled with cocaine and dead weights to keep the cargo from floating.
“This has revealed a new way of transporting narcotics by using the towing technique,” the Navy press release reads. “In this way, if the boat is intercepted by authorities, the package can be cut loose.”
http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/why-colombia-cocaine-traffickers-love-high-tech-torpedoes
A narco tank, also called rhino trucks or monstruo (Spanish for 'monster'), is an improvised fighting vehicle used by drug cartels.[1] The vehicles are primarily civilian trucks with improvised vehicle armour, which adds operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities when fighting law enforcement or rivals during drug trafficking activities.
In Mexico, narco tanks have been extensively manufactured and operated by drug cartels and other gangs involved in the Mexican Drug War.[2][3][4][5] They are often modified semi-trucks, SUVs, or other large vehicles not intended for such a purpose, and come equipped with varying levels of protection and attack capability, but even smaller narco tanks are plated with two inches of steel armor. Mexican authorities have seized about twenty such armored trucks in the state of Tamaulipas alone, four of which were later destroyed.[6] Cartels also began to build narco tanks with the armor installed on the interior rather than outside the vehicle, to draw away suspicion from rival drug cartels and the Mexican government. On May 22, 2011, one such vehicle belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel was seized in the state of Jalisco.[7] In 2015, Mexican authorities found a narco tank factory in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas that had eight vehicles in it, which were in the process of having armor plates with gun holes added to them.[8] Some narco tanks are equipped with improvised battering rams on the front to break through roadblocks.[9]
However, these types of gun trucks, as well as even heavier improvised armored vehicles, often referred as "Narco Tanks ," or "Narco Tanques" in Spanish, actually predate many of those conflicts. The first known examples began to appear in Mexico's Drug War in 2010. Mexican President Vincete Fox, who served between 2000 and 2006, and his successor, Felipe Calderon, who remained in office until 2012, had taken hard lines against drug cartels, deploying the military in many cases to try to crush the criminal organizations by force. 
These policies had, at best, mixed results for a variety of reasons, including corruption within the country's security forces, and led to spikes in violence and infighting between cartels as the Mexican government's actions created power vacuums and subsequent turf wars. The Los Zeta cartel, which operates on the other side of the country from the Sinaloa Cartel, is generally credited with making the first Nacro Tanks, but built them in order to fight the rival Gulf Cartel. 
The Gulf Cartel responded in kind, including unique examples based on commercial dump trucks with names like "El Rinoceronte" ("The Rhinoceros") and the "Batmobile." One El Rinoceronte had a mounted Bushmaster BA50 .50 caliber rifle mounted inside.
...
The trend has since spread nationwide, though with more discreet designs than the Monstruos having become the predominant type, ss was seen in Culiacán just the other day. This is a symptom of a larger arms race between cartels and the Mexican government, and each other. 
This can also be seen in the use of Barrett .50 caliber anti-materiel rifles in Culiacán, and elsewhere, which offer cartel gunmen a way to disable opponents riding in increasingly more heavily armed vehicles. There were also reports of individuals carrying belt-fed M249 machine guns, M72 rocket launchers, and unknown rocket-propelled grenades, but at least some of these videos were from previous skirmishes.
organised crime assets
do cartels help community
MEXICO CITY, Mexico — As stricken communities dig out from the one-two punch of tropical cyclones that hit Mexico’s coasts last week, organized crime has been pitching in.
The Gulf Cartel, the drug-trafficking organization that controls much of the country’s northeast, is believed to have dispensed food, water and medical supplies to a rural town slammed by Hurricane Ingrid in Tamaulipas state.
A YouTube video local media attributed to the drug gang appears to show its aid effort.
“This is how the Gulf Cartel fulfilled the mission,” a message at the end of the rap-accompanied video says shortly before an image of a smiling Jesus Christ flashes on the screen.
Storm relief fits perfectly into Mexican gangsters’ long-practiced public relations campaigns, many of them carried on YouTube and other social media. The powerful drug gangs strive to present themselves as the “good bad guys,” interested only in smuggling narcotics to consumers in the United States while leaving Mexican communities in peace.
https://thesocietypages.org/trot/2017/02/10/mexican-cartels-as-community-heroes/
On Contact - Refugee Trafficking with Loretta Napoleoni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhvG7zaMtz0
https://www.amazon.com.au/Terror-Incorporated-Loretta-Napoleoni/dp/1583226737
https://www.amazon.com.au/Islamist-Phoenix-Redrawing-Middle-East/dp/160980628X
https://www.amazon.com.au/Merchants-Men-kidnapping-trafficking-multibillion-dollar/dp/1760293067
"A powerful and sophisticated underground business delivers thousands of refugees a day all along the Mediterranean coasts of Europe. The new breed of criminals that controls it has risen out of the political chaos of post-9/11 Western foreign policy and the fiasco of the Arab Spring. These merchants of men are intertwined with jihadist armed organizations such as al Qaeda in the Maghreb. They have prospered smuggling cocaine from West Africa and kidnapping Westerners. More recently, the destabilization of Syria and Iraq coupled with the rise of ISIS offered them new business opportunities in the Middle East, from selling Western hostages to jihadist groups to trafficking in refugees numbering in the millions. Overall, the kidnapping industry today is bigger than the illegal drug trade and worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Merchants of Men is based on exclusive access to hostage negotiators actively involved in ransom negotiations and rescue missions, counter-terrorism experts, members of security services, and former hostages, among many others. The reader will discover that the protocols of prevention and rescue change according to the type of abduction and the designated targets, and will come to know first hand the range of experiences of kidnapping victims. Will the West once again reap the benefits of the political chaos it has sown in its own backyard? From colonization to the advent of ofriendlyo dictatorial regimes, today's fast-aging European nations are buyers on the refugee market. New workers are needed, and the merchants of men are supplying them. But only skilled, highly educated refugees are wanted. As a tsunami of migrants and refugees floods Europe, new questions almost too numerous to count must be answered."
https://www.amazon.com.au/Merchants-Men-Kidnapping-Trafficking-Multi-Billion/dp/1609807081
"In Terror Incorporated, Loretta Napoleoni maps out the arteries of an international economic system that feeds armed groups the world over. Chasing terror money, she takes the reader from CIA headquarters to the smuggling routes of the Far East, from the back rooms of Wall Street to hawala exchanges in the Middle East. apoleoni describes the "New Economy of Terror," "a fast-growing international economic system with a turnover of about $1.5 trillion that is challenging Western hegemony." It is made up of illegal businesses such as arms and narcotics trading, and oil and diamond smuggling, as well as charitable donations and legal profits. Napoleoni reveals the interdependency between economies run by armed groups and western economies, and provides a pioneering examination of the system and methods by which international terrorism is financed."
https://www.amazon.com.au/North-Korea-Country-Love-Hate/dp/1742589812
Human Trafficking - Exploitation of women still rampant worldwide (On Contact with Chris Hedges)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBCp0LkMA2A
The alleged illicit activities of the North Korean state include manufacture and sale of illegal drugs, the manufacture and sale of counterfeit consumer goods, human trafficking, arms trafficking, wildlife trafficking, counterfeiting currency (especially the United States dollar and Chinese yuan), terrorism, and other areas.[1][2][3] It is alleged many of these activities are undertaken at the direction and under the control of, the North Korean government and the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, with their proceeds going towards advancing the country's nuclear and conventional arms production, funding the lifestyles of the country's elite, and propping up the North Korean economy.[4]
The Mexican Mormon War (Drug Cartels vs. Mormons Full Length)
In many communities throughout Mexico where crime organizations reign, locals have no choice but to turn a blind eye to their activities.   
And for many years in places like Culiacan in Sinaloa state, the cartel has more or less left them at peace in exchange for this.  
But that all changed on Oct. 17, when the Sinaloa Cartel took its fight to the streets, killing three civilians.  
Many poor farmers in areas around Culiacan depend on the crime group for money. They farm opium and marijuana and the cartel pays them. But the relationship between the Sinaloa Cartel and civilians does not stop there.  
When the government could not afford it, the cartel stepped in at times to foot the bill for roads, healthcare and churches. The Sinaloa Cartel worked to create a good relationship with the locals.  
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador declared that the drug war was over since taking office in 2018; however, his comment was met with criticism as the homicide rate remains high. 
...
“The fact is that they feel that they’re not safe,” Correa-Cabrera said. “It’s getting into their homes. It’s killing their kids and their women.”  
But the question remains whether the relationship between the cartel groups and locals can ever really change. At the end of the day, the criminal groups have a stronghold over many regions of Mexico.  
Locals look at Sinaloa and other similar tragedies as examples that the government truly is weaker than the criminal organizations in Mexico.  
“People are without any hope because the state...alleges that it doesn’t have the capacity to deal with these organizations,” Correa-Cabrera said. “They have so much power. How can the society defend themselves from this?”
nra cartel funding
cartel air force
Arevalo-Kessler was an important pilot in the Sinaloa Cartel's air operations, which by sheer number of planes rival those of major airlines. Its fleet size is likely larger than Mexico's largest commercial airliner Aeromexico.
The cartel's fleet is even comparable to some major international airlines, although most of the cartel's aircraft are smaller, befitting their role of traveling to and from remote, crude landing strips.
That's according to a new investigation by the Mexican newspaper El Universal, which obtained data on planes seized by the Mexican security forces between 2006 and 2015. The numbers are surprising even for the Sinaloa Cartel, the world's wealthiest drug-trafficking organization.
Mexico has seized 599 airplanes and helicopters linked to the Sinaloa Cartel alone, according to the newspaper. That's nearly five times the size of Aeromexico's fleet, although again, most of the Sinaloa Cartel's aircraft are on the smaller size—Cessnas (the most popular), Gulfsteams, and Pipers, among others.
A complicated nexus of shell companies, private airlines, and "training schools" conceals their true purpose.
Considering this number is only for aircraft seized, not active, the real total is likely higher—and we can expect the cartel to replace its losses after seizures. Not all of the cartel planes are on the smaller side. Arevelo-Kessler admitted to Mexican authorities after his arrest that he flew a Boeing 727 for the cartel.
According to El Universal, if the Sinaloa Cartel's fleet was legal, "the cartel would also compete as the most lucrative airport company in the country, operating 4,771 clandestine airstrips between 500 meters and one kilometer long, nestled in the heart of the mountains in northern states."
The Sinaloa Cartel is an international organization, but it is most heavily invested in northwestern Mexico centered around the state of Sinaloa—where the cartel takes its name. According to the newspaper, the organization's airstrips are heavily concentrated in Sinaloa, with the greatest number in Baja California opposite the Californian border.
But what Arevalo-Kessler's case shows is that the the Sinaloa Cartel does not have to be legal to compete with the world's airlines. A job offer from Emirates—one of the world's best—and career in the Mexican air force gave him rare opportunities to work in aviation. But he went to work for El Chapo.
Mexican traffickers arrive at the homes of farmers and local producers offering large sums of money — in the neighborhood of between $40,000 and $60,000 — to use existing airstrips or to build new ones for drug planes to land on and take off from, according to several local farmers in Zulia who spoke to InSight Crime on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Those who don’t cooperate, however, reportedly run the risk of being incriminated with propellers, gas canisters and other spare parts left on their land that could later be used against them, according to local sources in Zulia.
And there have been cases of Venezuelan air force personnel collaborating with Mexican cartels. Former captain Gino Alfonso Garcés Vergara, for example, received $500,000 in exchange for allowing narco-flights loaded with drugs to pass through Venezuelan airspace undetected. 
National Assembly Vice President Juan Pablo Guanipa has voiced his concerns about the presence of drug trafficking groups in this region, according to El Pitazo. Local farmers and manufacturers are subjected to constant threats, preventing them from speaking out about the issue, according to Guanipa. In 2015, for example, farmer Gaspar Enrique Rincón Urdaneta was murdered after making his own concerns known.
But this isn’t the only evidence of links between the Venezuelan government and Mexican cartel emissaries. In June 2019, Prison Minister Iris Varela confirmed three Mexican nationals had escaped from jail after being captured on drug trafficking charges. The three allegedly secured their escape using information about internal logistics that was filtered to them and through open access to weapons.
The steady flow of Colombian cocaine and the silence of the Venezuelan government has made it so that Mexico’s powerful drug cartels feel right at home in Venezuela.
asian triad airplane
Chairman Mao believed gambling to be one of society’s three evils, alongside opium and prostitution. In 1950 he banned them from the mainland. In Macau, all three flourish, even after the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1999.
- over time (if you study counter terrorism and organised crime) you get a good idea of where problems are likely to spawn from. It's obvious that many groups of the less legitimate/illicit kind are linking up with one another?
mafia weapons
The Austrians are known to have sold more than 800 new pistols to the Italian mafia group as well as 50 Kalashnikov assault rifles and 10 'Scorpion' submachine guns, worth a total of 500,000 euros.
Smuggling of firearms
Gun origins
Some researchers have asserted that most weapons and arms trafficked into Mexico come from gun dealers in the United States. There is also strong evidence for this conclusion, indicating that many of the traceable weapons come from the failed American government Operation "Fast and Furious", and there is a geographic coincidence between the supposed American origin of the firearms and the places where these weapons are seized, mainly in the northern Mexican states.[249] Most grenades and rocket-launchers are smuggled through Guatemalan borders from Central America.[244] However some grenades are also smuggled from the US to Mexico [245] or stolen from the Mexican military.[246] DHS officials have stated that the statistic is misleading: out of approximately 30,000 weapons seized in drug cases in Mexico in 2004–2008, 7,200 appeared to be of U.S. origin, approximately 4,000 were found in ATF manufacturer and importer records, and 87 percent of those—3,480—originated in the United States.[250][251]
In an effort to control smuggling of firearms, the U.S. government is assisting Mexico with technology, equipment and training.[252] Project Gunrunner was one such efforts between the U.S. and Mexico to collaborate in tracing Mexican guns which were manufactured in or imported legally to the U.S.[253]
In 2008, it was falsely reported that ninety percent of arms either captured in Mexico or interdicted were from the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and others have dispelled these claims, pointing that the Mexican sample submitted for ATF tracing is the fraction of weapons seized that appear to have been made in the U.S. or imported into the U.S.[250][251]
In 2015, official reports of the U.S. government and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives (ATF) revealed that over the last years, Mexican cartels improved their firearm power, and that 71% of their weapons come from the U.S. Many of those guns were manufactured in Romania and Bulgaria, and then imported into the U.S. The Mexican cartels acquire those firearms mainly in the southern states of Texas, Arizona and California. After the United States, the top five countries of origin of firearms seized from Mexico were Spain, China, Italy, Germany and Romania. These five countries represent 17% of firearms smuggled into Mexico.[254]
Project Gunrunner
Main articles: Project Gunrunner and ATF gunwalking scandal
ATF Project Gunrunner has stated that the official objective is to stop the sale and export of guns from the United States into Mexico in order to deny Mexican drug cartels the firearms considered "tools of the trade".[255] However, in February 2011, it brought about a scandal when the project was accused of accomplishing the opposite by ATF permitting and facilitating "straw purchase" firearm sales to traffickers, and allowing the guns to "walk" and be transported to Mexico. Allegedly, the ATF allowed to complete the transactions to expose the supply chain and gather intelligence.[256][257] It has been established that this operation violated long-established ATF policies and practices and that it is not a recognized investigative technique.[258] Several of the guns sold under the Project Gunrunner were recovered from crime scenes in Arizona,[259] and at crime scenes throughout Mexico,[260] resulting in considerable controversy.[261][262][263]
One notable incident was the "Black Swan operation" where Joaquín Guzmán Loera was finally captured. The ATF confirmed that one of the weapons the Mexican Navy seized from Guzmán's gunmen was one of the many weapons that were "lost" during the Project Gunrunner.[264]
Many weapons from Project Gunrunner were found in a secret compartment from the "safe house" of José Antonio Marrufo "El Jaguar", one of Guzmán's most sanguinary lieutenants. He is accused of many killings in Ciudad Juárez, including the notorious massacre of 18 patients of the reahabilitation center "El Aliviane". It is believed that Marrufo armed his gunmen with weapons purchased in the United States.[265]
- there is a huge irony to the the many coup attempts around the world. If you examine the sale, flow, type of weapons and training of groups who use violence it's the usual suspects. The US, Russia, China are the main sources. It's the same theme with many weapons that are flowing throughout the world from leftover conflicts such as the Cold War between the US and USSR. It's remarkable how well equipped some rebel groups and major crime groups are? My suspicion is that they would outstrip a lot of law enforcement forces and that's the reason why there's been an militarisation in arms within many police forces to at least maintain parity? It's obvious that training, weapons, knowledge, skills, etc... are being shared between many different groups and governments around the world
According to Clayton Thyne and Jonathan Powell's coup dataset, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010, of which 227 (49.7%) were successful and 230 (50.3%) were unsuccessful.[1] They find that coups have "been most common in Africa and the Americas (36.5% and 31.9%, respectively). Asia and the Middle East have experienced 13.1% and 15.8% of total global coups, respectively. Europe has experienced by far the fewest coup attempts: 2.6%."[1] Most coup attempts occurred in the mid-1960s, but there were also large numbers of coup attempts in the mid-1970s and the early 1990s.[1] Numbers of successful coups have decreased over time.[1] Coups occurring in the post-Cold War period have been more likely to result in democratic systems.[16][17][18] Coups that occur during civil wars shorten the war's duration.[19] Research suggests that protests spur coups, as they help elites within the state apparatus to coordinate coups.[20]
african warlords weapons
The typical weapons available through these markets are small arms and crew-served infantry weapons, including Kalashnikov assault rifles, RPGs, mortars, anti-tank weapons, and surface to air missiles like the SA-7.
Technicals consist of weapons mounted on a four-wheel drive pickup truck. Many pickups have been used as technicals including Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton, but the most favoured are the Toyota Hilux and Toyota Land Cruiser. They are typically fitted with heavy machine guns (especially the DShK and M2 Browning), anti-aircraft artillery (usually the ZPU or ZU-23-2), recoilless rifles (usually the SPG-9 or M40 recoilless rifle) and Multiple rocket launchers such as the Type 63 multiple rocket launcher or the M-63 Plamen.
Optional add-ons include steel plates welded on for extra defense from small arms fire
cartel weapons
People are jokingly commenting on a past post asking what gun stores these came from. Well short answer. Most of the military grade stuff comes from South America and can be traced to US and Soviet shipments to a few countries back in the late 80’s. They were used to set up or dismantle governments all over the place back in the ideological battles of the cold war… The rest is civilian grade rifles that can (in more than one case) be traced back to Obama’s Fast and The Furious operation.
I know this shit has been used as propaganda to take away gun rights from Americans. That is fucked up. But to deny that these are mostly US in origin isn’t helping anyone’s cause. This was an Obama administration fuck up.. own that shit. I have high hopes for this current adminstration, really. Despite all the anti Mexican stuff being propagated I’m not blind to the true problems that are actually effecting millions of lives on both sides of the border. Trump is looking out for his people. I respect that.
There are people who are making a killing off the current turmoil and propagating the antimaericanism sentiment in Mexico.. and those people are not your friends.
People ask why the Mexican Marines don’t apply the same aerial assaults on the Sinaloa Cartel in Culiacán. Well the answer is simple. They have anti-aircraft capabilities and have down a few helicopters already.
rebel groups weapons
Man-portable air defense systems are a popular black market item for insurgent forces.[22] Their proliferation became the subject of the Wassenaar Arrangement's (WA)22 Elements for Export Controls of MANPADS, the G8 Action Plan of 2 June 2003,[23] the October 2003 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Bangkok Declaration on Partnership for the Future and in July 2003 the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Forum for Security Co-operation, Decision No. 7/03: Man-portable Air Defense Systems.[24]
Understanding the problem in 2003, Colin Powell remarked that there was "no threat more serious to aviation" than the missiles,[25] which can be used to shoot down helicopters and commercial airliners, and are sold illegally for as little as a few hundred dollars. The U.S. has led a global effort to dismantle these weapons, with over 30,000 voluntarily destroyed since 2003, but probably thousands are still in the hands of insurgents, especially in Iraq, where they were looted from the military arsenals of the former dictator Saddam Hussein,[26][27] and in Afghanistan as well. In August 2010, a report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) confirmed that "only a handful" of illicit MANPADS were recovered from national resistance caches in Iraq in 2009, according to media reports and interviews with military sources.[28]
military training rebel groups
The panel said it has identified the presence of mercenaries from Wagner in Libya since October 2018, "providing technical support for the repair of military vehicles, participating in combat operations and engaging in influence operations."
The panel said it was provided with details of 122 Wagner operatives who are "highly probably operational" in Libya, including 39 from its specialist sniper group and 83 from its 1st Attack and Reconnaissance Company or other combat units.
The panel said mercenaries from the Russian company Rossiskie System Bezopasnosti Group have also been identified as providing maintenance and repair support for military aircraft.
The experts said they continue to investigate reports that mercenaries from Russian-based Moran Security Group and Schit Security Group deployed to Benghazi on January 6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militarization_of_police
Military weapons are given to some police
Experts say one of the major issues in American police enforcement is the type of weapons some officers carry.
The US Department of Defence gives 'surplus' military equipment to certain civilian police forces.
Between 1997 and 2014, more than 8,000 local law enforcement agencies were given about $US5 billion in excess military equipment.
"Police departments are generally funded by local government. As with all areas of local government, over the last few decades, they've suffered really debilitating cuts," said David Smith from the United States Studies Centre (USSC).
"Offloaded military equipment is one of their main sources of equipment. Related is just the sheer availability of that equipment after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."
For police forces with limited funds, the excess gear helps keep them stocked up in items like sandbags, torches, sleeping bags and medical supplies.
But agencies also get items including assault rifles, night-vision goggles, armoured vehicles, bayonets and grenade launchers, according to US criminal justice reform expert Jeremiah Mostelle.
He says that some police officers have become more aggressive as their weapons have become more powerful.
"The increased use of military equipment has coincided with an increased use of military tactics, such as SWAT teams and no-knock raids," he wrote for the Charles Koch Institute.
But it wasn't until 2014 that the Pentagon's program first received widespread scrutiny, when riots broke out in Ferguson, Missouri.
During demonstrations over the police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown, authorities arrived at the scene in an armoured vehicle, dressed in military camouflage and carrying assault weapons.
Republican Senator Rand Paul criticised US leaders for helping municipal governments "build what are essentially small armies".
"Police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement," he wrote in Time magazine in 2014.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-02/why-do-us-police-have-such-powerful-weapons-in-protests/12307798
why do us police have military weapons
Militarization of police refers to the use of military equipment and tactics by law enforcement officers.[1] This includes the use of armored personnel carriers, assault rifles, submachine guns, flashbang grenades,[2][3] grenade launchers,[4] sniper rifles, and Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams.[5][6] The militarization of law enforcement is also associated with intelligence agency-style information gathering aimed at the public and political activists,[7][8] and a more aggressive style of law enforcement.[9][10] Criminal justice professor Peter Kraska has defined militarization of police as "the process whereby civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around, the tenets of militarism and the military model."[11]
Observers have noted the militarizing of the policing of protests.[12][13] Since the 1970s, riot police have fired at protesters using guns with rubber bullets or plastic bullets.[14] Tear gas, which was developed by the United States Army for riot control in 1919, is still widely used against protesters. The use of tear gas in warfare is prohibited by various international treaties[15] that most states have signed; however, its law enforcement or military use for domestic or non-combat situations is permitted.
Concerns about the militarization of police have been raised by both ends of the political spectrum in the United States, with both the right-of-center/libertarian Cato Institute[16] and the American Civil Liberties Union[17] voicing criticisms of the practice. The Fraternal Order of Police has spoken out in favor of equipping law enforcement officers with military equipment, on the grounds that it increases the officers' safety and enables them to protect members of the public and other first responders (e.g., firefighters and emergency medical services personnel).[18] However, a 2017 study showed that police forces which received military equipment were more likely to have violent encounters with the public, regardless of local crime rates.[19] A 2018 study found that militarized police units in the United States were more frequently deployed to communities with large shares of African-Americans, even after controlling for local crime rates.[20]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militarization_of_police
- organised crime is so strong that you can't crack down on gun laws without causing major conflict/war? Money source is irresistable to those in the legtimate economy as well. Weapons croming from all over the place such as the the US, Guatamala, Central/South America, etc... I did a basic check online and you can get handguns for a few hundred dollars. Assault class weapons can be had for four figures? Ammunition really, really cheap. A few dollars a round/bullet. Things may be much cheaper on the genuine black market?
weapons black market
We ship all over, and customers do not require any paper work to get a firearm with us. We also provide discreet shipping. We take a wide variety of payment methods for clients who wish to keep their identity discreet.
'All weapons we sell are from the US' - Smuggling guns into Mexico _ Talk to Al Jazeera
Dueling presidents - What's next for Venezuela _ The Stream
Gun economics - The weaponisation of the US _ Counting the Cost
Gunfire as Sudan military moves in to clear Khartoum sit-in
Iran's FM Zarif - 'End to US presence in the Middle East has begun'
Is this the answer to stopping US gun violence _ The Stream
NRA and One Nation - What is the gun lobby hiding _ The Stream
Arms trafficking is a 'Big Business' in Central America
How guns are getting across the border  _ Guns in Canada
How Guns Are Smuggled Across State Lines in Just 3 Hours _ NowThis
How Mexican Cartels Exploit America's Gun Laws
Lebanon's Illegal Arms Dealers
NRA - The Truth About Arms Trafficking in Mexico
Shadow World Inside the Global Arms Trade (2019)
The Business of War - SOFEX
The Eastern European Gun Runners
The Gun Markets of Pakistan
This is what an international arms deal looks like
Yemen and the global arms trade _ DW Documentary (Arms documentary)
- they have diversified into different areas. Both legitimate and not. Drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking, oil, farming/agriculture, mining, electronics, racketeering, kidnapping and extortion, etc? Note, that if you map out where such activities around the world they mostly occur where people are poorer?
Mexican Oil and Drug Cartels: Cocaine & Crude (Full Length)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPEfArQU7tc
Cocaine: why the cartels are winning | The Economist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hopYEuFA0g4
Mexico’s oil thieves cost industry billions of dollars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP-gHVZJ1-c
The Gangs That Inherited Pablo Escobar's Drug Empire: Cooking with Cocaine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1EHm2_CNkM
The Rise of Mexican Black Tar Heroin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_PQ407GkOs
Paco: The Poor Man's Drug in Buenos Aires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXdh00GdS88
New Chicago DEA boss targets 'Trafficking Jam' by 2 drug cartels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tVGDJ3Vo7o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_leaf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_paste
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tar_heroin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_base
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)
Paramilitary groups work alongside cartels to provide protection. This protection began with a focus on maintaining the drug trade; however, paramilitary groups now indulge in theft from other valuable industries such as oil and mining. It has been suggested that the rise in paramilitary groups coincides with a loss of security within the government. These paramilitary groups came about in a number of ways. First, waves of elite armed forces and government security experts have left the government to join the side of the cartels, responding to large bribes and an opportunity for wealth they may not have received in government positions. One such paramilitary group, the Zetas, employed military personnel to create one of the largest groups in Mexico. Some of the elite armed forces members who join paramilitaries are trained in the School of the Americas. One of the theories is that the paramilitaries have sprung out of deregulation of the Mexican army, which has been slowly replaced by private security firms.[219] Paramilitaries, including the Zetas, have now entered uncharted territories. Branching out of just protecting drug cartels, paramilitary groups have entered many other financially profitable industries, such as oil, gas, kidnapping, and counterfeiting electronics. There has been a complete and total loss of control by the government and the only response has been to increase army presence, notably an army whose officials are often on the drug cartels payroll. The United States has stepped in to offer support in the "War on Drugs" through funding, training and military support, and transforming the Mexican judicial system to parallel the American system.[220]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War#Paramilitaries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cali_Cartel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War#Effects_in_Mexico
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War#Effects_internationally
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War#Cartel_propaganda
us defense force attrition
The Army's attrition was the highest of all the services, at 35.9 percent, followed by the Marine Corps at 32.2 percent, the Navy at 32 percent, and the Air Force at 30 percent. The highest portion of attrition occurs during the early months of enlistees' first terms.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-117/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-117.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/ssi/wpc/ResignationLetter.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=matthew+hoh
[137] Veterans Fighting For Peace w_ Matt Hoh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3R83qwN0Ds
NZ school kids to get climate-change indoctrination
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HHOHC_ryPo
How the CIA Waged War in Afghanistan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuohOhLZccY
Interviews From Washington DC - Matthew Hoh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjm9lVt5nPc
America’s Longest War - Interview with former U.S. State Dep. & Pentagon Official Matthew Hoh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fIX-FHLJYo
Matthew Hoh - Beyond Forever War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3kfAVneLYc
UNLOCKED_ Facing the Truth feat. Matthew Hoh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOQ-1_PMTzM
Arms Trade & Drug Lords - The Lies of the War in Afghanistan w_ Matthew Hoh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHaEUBVCW5Q
Former Pentagon Official Matthew Hoh explains what’s truly behind US involvement in the Middle East
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IrgJ1uzpgg
On Contact - high rates of Combat Veterans Suicides
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzIJ27rSoYw
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spenser+rapone
ON CONTACT - Afghanistan papers with Spenser Rapone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7avVECAlA
Women in the Mexican Drug War have been participants and civilians. They have served for and or been harmed by all belligerents. There have been female combatants in the military, police, cartels, and gangs.[221][222] Women officials, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, paralegals,[223] reporters, business owners, social media influencers, teachers, and non-governmental organizations directors and workers have also been involved in different capacities.[224] Women citizens and foreigners, including migrants,[225] have been raped,[226][227] tortured,[228][229] and murdered in the conflict.[230][231][232][233][234]
Cartels and gangs fighting in the conflict carry out sex trafficking in Mexico as an alternative source of profits.[235][236][237][238] Some members of the criminal organizations also abduct women and girls to use as their personal sex slaves[239] and carry out sexual assault of migrants from Latin America to the United States.
human trafficking map
Human Trafficking in the World
where do cartels get scientists from
“Avocados represent a major source of income in the state of Michoacán in Mexico,” says Moncada, who is writing a book in part about extortion in Michoacán. “And as such, they've been mobilizing to try and capture money from that sector.”
The cartel engages in extortion of avocado producers, transporters and packers to gain control over the sector. By taking over lands used to produce avocados, they become “informal owners” of the fields and profit from sales, he says.
The cartels are broadening their portfolios beyond avocados, too. Taking control of land — like the butterfly reserve — allows them to produce more agricultural goods, and the wood and timber there is also valuable, he says.
Mexico’s war on drugs began in 2006 under the reign of former President Felipe Calderón. On top of the violence that the conflict unleashed, it also fragmented the country’s handful of large cartels to many smaller ones, he says.
“In order to survive and thrive in that kind of context, the cartels began to diversify their portfolios in a way to try and gain resources,” he says.
Many avocado growers initially welcomed the cartels, he says. That’s because the cartels gave the growers services the state failed to provide for years, such as security for themselves, their land and products.
The cartels asked for a tax in exchange for these services, but Moncada says they became more predatory toward growers over time. Cartels stopped providing the growers with services but kept charging extortion fees, he says.
Michoacán is also one of the United States’ primary sources for blueberries, strawberries and blackberries. Many berry producers are also being taxed by drug cartels as well, he says.
Despite the difficult situation many growers find themselves in, Moncada doesn’t think Americans should feel like consuming avocados is contributing to the drug cartels. It’s more complicated than that, in part because not all avocados coming from Mexico come from farms involved with the cartels, he says.
“Much like any commodity that we purchase from the phones that we use to the computers that we're reliant on, those commodity chains kind of moved back and forth between the legal and the illegal and the criminal and the formal,” he says, “and avocados aren't an exception to that.”
For Ortega, equivocating on a strategy is proving to be just as dangerous as the tough enforcement policy used in the last two administrations. "The message we're sending to criminals is that here they can kill, kidnap, extort and the president is not going to go against them, but is going to call their mothers so that they get a scolding. That's what the 'hugs, not gunshots' policy is all about," Ortega said.
North of the border, US president Donald Trump seems to agree, urging López Obrador toward more decisive force against the cartels. On the morning after the Sonora attack, Trump tweeted, "This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!"
But as the Mexican national guard works to stem migration to the US, those very cartels are selling drugs in America and buying guns from America -- a cycle that has prompted some Mexicans to wonder: "What about the Americans' responsibility in all this?"
- there seems to be a theme of governments around the world of using narcotics to supplement their budget or to help rebel groups raise funds sometimes? Opium first used for recreational drug use in the Middle East about 3400BC? Trade was mostly local/regional thereafter. The first evidence (that I can see) of it going international is via colonialism/imperialism? Ironically, the as the more connected the world became the further the drug trade spread? You can pretty much predict drug sources over time (if you look at enough data)?
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Cocaine+-+Britain%27s+Epidemic
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1340145731790/cocaine-britains-epidemic-britains-cocaine-epidemic
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1350182979698/cocaine-britains-epidemic-cocaine-teen-dealers
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1351065667719/cocaine-britains-epidemic-cocaine-cant-stop-using
Synthetic Marijuana
https://www.drugs.com/illicit/synthetic-marijuana.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_cannabinoids
opium trade history
Opium trade, in Chinese history, the traffic that developed in the 18th and 19th centuries in which Western countries, mostly Great Britain, exported opium grown in India and sold it to China. The British used the profits from the sale of opium to purchase such Chinese luxury goods as porcelain, silk, and tea, which were in great demand in the West.
Opium was first introduced to China by Turkish and Arab traders in the late 6th or early 7th century CE. Taken orally to relieve tension and pain, the drug was used in limited quantities until the 17th century. At that point, the practice of smoking tobacco spread from North America to China, and opium smoking soon became popular throughout the country. Opium addiction increased, and opium importations grew rapidly during the first century of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12). By 1729 it had become such a problem that the Yongzheng emperor (ruled 1722–35) prohibited the sale and smoking of opium. That failed to hamper the trade, and in 1796 the Jiaqing emperor outlawed opium importation and cultivation. In spite of such decrees, however, the opium trade continued to flourish.
Early in the 18th century the Portuguese found that they could import opium from India and sell it in China at a considerable profit. By 1773 the British had discovered the trade, and that year they became the leading suppliers of the Chinese market. The British East India Company established a monopoly on opium cultivation in the Indian province of Bengal, where they developed a method of growing opium poppies cheaply and abundantly. Other Western countries also joined in the trade, including the United States, which dealt in Turkish as well as Indian opium.
Britain and other European countries undertook the opium trade because of their chronic trade imbalance with China. There was tremendous demand in Europe for Chinese tea, silks, and porcelain pottery, but there was correspondingly little demand in China for Europe’s manufactured goods and other trade items. Consequently, Europeans had to pay for Chinese products with gold or silver. The opium trade, which created a steady demand among Chinese addicts for opium imported by the West, solved this chronic trade imbalance.
The East India Company did not carry the opium itself but, because of the Chinese ban, farmed it out to “country traders”—i.e., private traders who were licensed by the company to take goods from India to China. The country traders sold the opium to smugglers along the Chinese coast. The gold and silver the traders received from those sales were then turned over to the East India Company. In China the company used the gold and silver it received to purchase goods that could be sold profitably in England.
c.3400 B.C.  
The opium poppy is cultivated in lower Mesopotamia. The Sumerians refer to it as Hul Gil, the 'joy plant.' The Sumerians would soon pass along the plant and its euphoric effects to the Assyrians. The art of poppy-culling would continue from the Assyrians to the Babylonians who in turn would pass their knowledge onto the Egyptians.
c.1300 B.C.  
In the capital city of Thebes, Egyptians begin cultivation of opium thebaicum,grown in their famous poppy fields.The opium trade flourishes during the reign of Thutmose IV, Akhenaton and King Tutankhamen. The trade route included the Phoenicians and Minoans who move the profitable item across the Mediterranean Sea into Greece, Carthage, and Europe.
c.1100 B.C.  
On the island of Cyprus, the "Peoples of the Sea" craft surgical-quality culling knives to harvest opium, which they would cultivate, trade and smoke before the fall of Troy.
c. 460 B.C.  
Hippocrates, "the father of medicine", dismisses the magical attributes of opium but acknowledges its usefulness as a narcotic and styptic in treating internal diseases, diseases of women and epidemics.
330 B.C.  
Alexander the Great introduces opium to the people of Persia and India.
A.D. 400   
Opium thebaicum, from the Egytpian fields at Thebes, is first introduced to China by Arab traders.
1300's  
Opium disappears for two hundred years from European historical record. Opium had become a taboo subject for those in circles of learning during the Holy Inquisition. In the eyes of the Inquisition, anything from the East was linked to the Devil.
1500  
The Portugese, while trading along the East China Sea, initiate the smoking ofopium. The effects were instantaneous as they discovered but it was a practice the Chinese considered barbaric and subversive.
1527  
During the height of the Reformation, opium is reintroduced into European medical literature by Paracelsus as laudanum. These black pills or "Stones of Immortality" were made of opium thebaicum, citrus juice and quintessence of gold and prescribed as painkillers.
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Early 1900's  
The philanthropic Saint James Society in the U.S. mounts a campaign to supply free samples of heroin through the mail to morphine addicts who are trying give up their habits.
Efforts by the British and French to control opium production in Southeast Asia are successful. Nevertheless, this Southeast region, referred to as the 'Golden Triangle', eventually becomes a major player in the profitable opium trade during the 1940's.
1902  
In various medical journals, physicians discuss the side effects of using heroin as a morphine step-down cure. Several physicians would argue that their patients suffered from heroin withdrawal symptoms equal to morphine addiction.
1903  
Heroin addiction rises to alarming rates.
1905  
U.S. Congress bans opium.
1906  
China and England finally enact a treaty restricting the Sino-Indian opium trade.
Several physicians experiment with treatments for heroin addiction. Dr. Alexander Lambert and Charles B. Towns tout their popular cure as the most "advanced, effective and compassionate cure" for heroin addiction. The cure consisted of a 7 day regimen, which included a five day purge of heroin from the addict's system with doses of belladonna delirium.
U.S. Congress passes the Pure Food and Drug Act requiring contents labeling on patent medicines by pharmaceutical companies. As a result, the availabilty of opiates and opiate consumers significantly declines.
1909  
The first federal drug prohibition passes in the U.S. outlawing the imporation of opium. It was passed in preparation for the Shanghai Conference, at which the US presses for legislation aimed at suppressing the sale of opium to China.
...
1995  
The Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia is now the leader in opium production, yielding 2,500 tons annually. According to U.S. drug experts, there are new drug trafficking routes from Burma through Laos, to southern China, Cambodia and Vietnam.
January 1996  
Khun Sa, one of Shan state's most powerful drug warlords, "surrenders" to SLORC. The U.S. is suspicious and fears that this agreement between the ruling junta regime and Khun Sa includes a deal allowing "the opium king" to retain control of his opium trade but in exchange end his 30-year-old revolutionary war against the government.
November 1996  
International drug trafficking organizations, including China, Nigeria, Colombia and Mexico are said to be "aggressively marketing heroin in the United States and Europe."
The First Opium War began in 1839 and was fought over trade,[8] financial reparations,[9] and diplomatic status.[10] In the late 18th century, the British East India Company, contravening Chinese laws, had begun smuggling Indian opium into China and became the leading suppliers by 1773.[11] By 1787, the Company was illegally sending 4,000 chests of opium (each weighing 77 kg) to China a year.[12]
The Chinese Jiaqing Emperor passed many decrees/edicts making opium trade illegal in 1729, 1799, 1814, and 1831, but smuggling still occurred as the British paid smugglers to take opium into China, causing the population to become more and more addicted. This, in turn, let tons of opium into China's markets. [13] Some Americans entered the trade by smuggling opium from Turkey into China. By 1833, the number of chests of opium trafficked into China soared to 30,000.[12] According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the East India Company sent the opium to their warehouses in the free-trade region of Canton (Guangzhou), from where Chinese smugglers would take the opium farther into China.[13] In 1834, the East India Company's monopoly ceased.[14] The illegal trade, however, continued. In 1839, the Lin Tse-Hsu Letter—pleading for a halt to the opium contraband—was sent to the British monarch Queen Victoria but ignored. Subsequently, the Emperor issued an edict ordering the seizure of all opium in Canton, including that held by foreign governments, and placed matters in the hands of High Commissioner Lin Tse-hsu.[15]
China initially attempted to get foreign companies to forfeit their opium stores in exchange for tea, but this ultimately failed. Then China resorted to using force in the western merchants' enclave. Forces confiscated all supplies and ordered a blockade of foreign ships to get them to surrender their illegal opium supply. The smugglers lost 20,000 chests (1,300 metric tons) of opium without compensation.[13]
The British trade commissioner in Canton, Captain Charles Elliot, wrote to London advising the use of military force against the Chinese. Almost a year passed before the British government decided, in May 1840, to send troops to impose reparations for the economic losses of the British traders in Canton, including financial compensation, and to guarantee future security for smugglers. However, the first hostilities had occurred some months earlier with a skirmish between British and Chinese vessels in the Kowloon Estuary on 4 September 1839.[15] On 21 June 1840 a British naval force arrived off Macao and moved to bombard the port of Ting-ha. In the ensuing conflict, the Royal Navy used its naval and gunnery power to inflict a series of decisive defeats on the Chinese Empire,[16] a tactic later referred to as gunboat diplomacy.
The war was concluded by the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) in 1842, the first of the treaties between China and foreign powers.[17] The treaty forced China to cede the Hong Kong Island with surrounding smaller islands to the United Kingdom in perpetuity, and it established five treaty ports at Shanghai, Canton, Ningpo (Ningbo), Foochow (Fuzhou), and Amoy (Xiamen).[18] The treaty also demanded a twenty-one million dollar payment to Great Britain, with six million, paid immediately and the rest through specified instalments thereafter.[19] Another treaty the following year gave most favoured nation status to the British Empire and added provisions for British extraterritoriality.[17] France secured concessions on the same terms as the British in treaties of 1843 and 1844.[20]
Contents
1 Usage
2 Examples
2.1 Guinea-Bissau
2.2 Mexico
2.3 Suriname
2.4 United Kingdom
2.5 United States
2.6 Venezuela
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
where does afghanistan opium go
Afghanistan has been the world's leading illicit opium producer since 2001.[1] Afghanistan's opium poppy harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply.[2][3] More land is used for opium in Afghanistan than is used for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 93% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan.[4] This amounts to an export value of about US$4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers.[5] In the seven years (1994–2000) prior to a Taliban opium ban, the Afghan farmers' share of gross income from opium was divided among 200,000 families.[6] As of 2017, opium production provides about 400,000 jobs in Afghanistan, more than the Afghan National Security Forces.[7] The opium trade spiked in 2006 after the Taliban lost control of local warlords. In addition to opium, Afghanistan is also the world's leading producer of hashish.[8][9]
From 2016 to 2017, the area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan increased by 63 percent, to 328,000 hectares (ha); the estimated total production of opium shot up by 87 percent to 9,000 metric tons (mt). That’s the most in Afghan history. Most of the expansion of took place in Helmand province, long the hub of Afghan opium production as well as Taliban insurgency. With 144,000 ha cultivated with poppy, that province alone surpasses production levels in all of Myanmar, the world’s second largest producer of opiates. But cultivation expanded throughout the country, including in the north, such as in Balkh and Jawzjan.
myanmar drug production
The Golden Triangle[1] is the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers.[2] The name "Golden Triangle"—coined by the CIA[3]—is commonly used more broadly to refer to an area of approximately 950,000 square kilometres (367,000 sq mi) that overlaps the mountains of the three adjacent countries.
Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent, it has been one of the largest opium-producing areas of the world, since the 1950s. Most of the world's heroin came from the Golden Triangle until the early 21st century when Afghanistan became the world's largest producer.[4]
...
As the Chinese Communist Party gained power, they ordered ten million addicts into compulsory treatment, had dealers executed, and opium-producing regions planted with new crops. Remaining opium production shifted south of the Chinese border into the Golden Triangle region.[5]
The US-supported anti-communist Chinese resistance troops of the Kuomintang in Burma were, in effect, the forebears of the private narcotic armies operating in the "Golden Triangle." Almost all the KMT opium was sent south to Thailand.[6] Prior to the arrival of the KMT, the opium trade had already developed as a local opium economy under British colonial rule. The KMT-controlled territories made up Burma's major opium-producing region, and the shift in KMT policy allowed them to expand their control over the region's opium trade. Furthermore, Communist China's forced eradication of illicit opium cultivation in Yunnan by the early 1950s effectively handed the opium monopoly to the KMT army in the Shan states. The main consumers of the drug were the local ethnic Chinese and those across the border in Yunnan and the rest of Southeast Asia. The KMT coerced the local villagers for recruits, food and money, and exacted a heavy tax on the opium farmers. This forced the farmers to increase their production to make ends meet. One American missionary to the Lahu tribesmen of Kengtung State even testifies to the torture the KMT committed to the Lahu for failing to comply with their regulations. The annual production increased twenty-fold from 30 tons at the time of Burmese independence to 600 tons in the mid-1950s.[7]
empire files youtube
Empire Files
The Empire Files with Abby Martin
columbia colonialism
Santa Fe de Bogota was founded in 1538, and all three expeditions eventually ended up there, sparking a battle for control of the newly founded territory. Santa Fe de Bogota would later become the capital city of its own viceroyalty.The battle for supremacy between the three explorers continued until 1550, when finally the Spanish king Charles V issued a decree that established a court of justice at Bogota, naming it the Royal Audience of the New Kingdom of Granada. Charles V then placed this new colony under the already-formed Viceroyalty of Peru.
Colombia maintained this political status until the eighteenth century, when it became its own viceroyalty, encompassing the present-day territories of Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela.The new Spanish colonizers used a number of processes in order to consolidate their new found power. Primarily they used the system of the encomienda, which literally translates to ‘an entrusting’. In other words, the indigenous population was forced to work for their new Spanish owners, but the latter had to provide adequate care for them. Religion was another major tool for power; many key religious figures were sent to the Americas to evangelize the indigenous population and convert them to Catholicism.
Colonialism is the policy of a country seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories,[1][need quotation to verify] generally with the aim of economic dominance.[2] In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their religion, economics, and other cultural practices on indigenous peoples. The foreign invaders/interlopers rule the territory in pursuit of their interests, seeking to benefit from the colonised region's people and resources.[3]
Starting in the 15th century, some European states established their own empires during the European colonial period. The Belgian, British, Danish, Dutch, French, Ottoman[4]:116 Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish empires established colonies across large areas. Japan, the United States and China also followed this path, as did the Germans and the Italians in the late 19th century.
At first, European colonising countries followed policies of mercantilism, aiming to strengthen the home-country economy, so agreements usually restricted the colonies to trading only with the metropole (mother country). By the mid-19th century, however, the British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade restrictions and adopted the principle of free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs. Christian missionaries were active in practically all of the European-controlled colonies because the metropoles were Christian. Historian Philip Hoffman calculated that by 1800, before the Industrial Revolution, Europeans already controlled at least 35% of the globe, and by 1914, they had gained control of 84% of the globe.[5]
In the aftermath of World War II colonial powers were forced to retreat between 1945–1975, when nearly all colonies gained independence, entering into changed colonial, so-called postcolonial and neocolonialist relations. Postcolonialism and neocolonialism has continued or shifted relations and ideologies of colonialism, attempting to justify its continuation with adjusted narratives like development and new frontiers, as in exploring outer space for colonization.[6]
...
Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as "the policy and practice of a power in extending control over weaker peoples or areas".[7] Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary defines colonialism as "the system or policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories".[1] The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers four definitions, including "something characteristic of a colony" and "control by one power over a dependent area or people".[8] Etymologically, the word "colony" comes from the Latin colōnia—"a place for agriculture".
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy uses the term "to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia". It discusses the distinction between colonialism, imperialism and conquest and states that "[t]he difficulty of defining colonialism stems from the fact that the term is often used as a synonym for imperialism. Both colonialism and imperialism were forms of conquest that were expected to benefit Europe economically and strategically.", and continues "given the difficulty of consistently distinguishing between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism broadly to refer to the project of European political domination from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries that ended with the national liberation movements of the 1960s".[9]
In his preface to Jürgen Osterhammel's Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview, Roger Tignor says "For Osterhammel, the essence of colonialism is the existence of colonies, which are by definition governed differently from other territories such as protectorates or informal spheres of influence."[10] In the book, Osterhammel asks, "How can 'colonialism' be defined independently from 'colony?'"[11] He settles on a three-sentence definition:
Colonialism is a relationship between an indigenous (or forcibly imported) majority and a minority of foreign invaders. The fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonised people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are often defined in a distant metropolis. Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonised population, the colonisers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule.[12]
opium iraq
Opium production in Myanmar has historically been a major contributor to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Myanmar is the world's second largest producer of opium after Afghanistan, producing some 25% of the world's opium, and forms part of the Golden Triangle. The opium industry was a monopoly during colonial times and has since been illegally operated by corrupt officials in the Burmese military and rebel fighters,[1] primarily as the basis for heroin manufacture.
Production is mainly concentrated in the Shan and Kachin states. Due to poverty, opium production is attractive to impoverished farmers as the financial return from poppy is 17 times more than that of rice. The yield during 2012 was 690 tons, valued at US $359 million.[2]
Economic specialists indicate that recent trends in growth have the potential to increase the gap between the rich and the poor in the country, empowering criminal rackets at the expense of democracy.
Evergreen International Airlines was a charter and cargo airline based in McMinnville, Oregon, United States with longstanding ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It operated contract freight services, offering charters and scheduled flights, as well as wet lease services. It operated services for the U.S. military and the United States Postal Service, as well as ad hoc charter flights. Its crew base was at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York.[2]
Evergreen also maintained a large aircraft maintenance and storage facility at the Pinal Air Park in Marana, Arizona that the company acquired from the CIA's Air America fleet.[3][4][5]
south vietnamese life under french colonialism
The French justified their rule of Indochina by the idea that they were bringing into light and liberty the races and peoples still enslaved by ignorance and despotism'. In reality Vietnam was treated as a huge plantation fuelling French industrialization.
Many thousands of Vietnamese died labouring in appalling conditions on rubber plantations; rice was exported despite the starving local people. There were periodic revolts - but the resistance was notorganized enough to succeed against a ruthless French security system. Vietnamese nationalism awaited a rallying force.
French colonialism in Vietnam lasted more than six decades. By the late 1880s, French-controlled Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were collectively referred to as Indochine Français (French Indochina). Indochina became one of France’s most lucrative colonial possessions. It was part of a French empire that spanned northern and western Africa, as well as islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Justification
To justify their imperialism, the French developed their own principle called the mission civilisatrice (or ‘civilising mission’). It was, in effect, a French form of the English ‘white man’s burden’.
French imperialists claimed it was their responsibility to colonise undeveloped regions in Africa and Asia, to introduce modern political ideas, social reforms, industrial methods and new technologies. Without European intervention, these places would remain backward, uncivilised and impoverished.
Profit and resources
By and large, the mission civilisatrice was a thin facade. The real motive for French colonialism was profit and economic exploitation.
French imperialism was driven by a demand for resources, raw materials and cheap labour. The development of colonised nations was scarcely considered, except where it happened to benefit French interests.
In general, French colonialism was more haphazard, expedient and brutal than British colonialism. Paris never designed or promoted a coherent colonial policy in Indochina. So long as it remained in French hands and open to French economic interests, the French government was satisfied.
...
‘Divide and rule’
To minimise local resistance, the French employed a ‘divide and rule’ strategy, undermining Vietnamese unity by playing local mandarins, communities and religious groups against each other.
The nation was carved into three separate pays (provinces): Tonkin in the north, Annam along the central coast and Cochinchina in the south. Each of these pays was administered separately.
Under French colonial rule, there was no national identity or authority in Vietnam or its neighbours. According to one French colonial edict, it was even illegal to use the name ‘Vietnam’.
Economic transformation
Profit, not politics, was the driving force behind French colonisation. Over time, colonial officials and French companies transformed Vietnam’s thriving subsistence economy into a proto-capitalist system, based on land ownership, increased production, exports and low wages.
Millions of Vietnamese no longer worked to provide for themselves; they now worked for the benefit of French colons (settlers). The French seized vast swathes of land and reorganised them into large plantations. Small landholders were given the option of remaining as labourers on these plantations or relocating elsewhere.
Where there were labour shortfalls, Viet farmers were recruited en masse from outlying villages. Sometimes they came voluntarily, lured by false promises of high wages; sometimes they were conscripted at the point of a gun.
...
Colonial taxes and opium
The French also burdened the Vietnamese with an extensive taxation system. This included income tax on wages, a poll tax on all adult males, stamp duties on a wide range of publications and documents, and imposts on the weighing and measuring of agricultural goods.
Even more lucrative were the state monopolies on rice wine and salt – commodities used extensively by locals. Most Vietnamese had previously made their own rice wine and gathered their own salt – but by the start of the 1900s, both could only be purchased through French outlets at heavily inflated prices.
French officials and colonists also benefited from growing, selling and exporting opium, a narcotic drug extracted from poppies. Land was set aside to grow opium poppies and by the 1930s, Vietnam was producing more than 80 tonnes of opium each year. Not only were local sales of opium very profitable, its addictiveness and stupefying effects were a useful form of social control.
By 1935, France’s collective sales of rice wine, salt and opium were earning more than 600 million francs per annum, the equivalent of $US5 billion today.
Local collaborators
Harnessing and transforming Vietnam’s economy required considerable local support. France never had a large military presence in Indochina (there were only 11,000 French troops there in 1900) nor were there enough Frenchmen to personally manage this transformation. Instead, the French relied on a small number of local officials and bureaucrats.
Called nguoi phan quoc (‘traitor’) by other locals, these Vietnamese supported colonial rule by collaborating with the French. They often held positions of authority in local government, businesses or economic institutions, like the Banque de l’Indochine (the French Bank of Indochina). They did this for reasons of self-interest or because they held Francophile (pro-French) views.
French propagandists held these collaborators up as an example of the mission civilisatrice benefiting the Vietnamese people. Some collaborators were given scholarships to study in France; a few even received French citizenship. Perhaps the most famous collaborator was Bao Dai, the last of the Nguyen emperors (reigned 1926-45). Bao Dai was educated at Paris’ Lycee Condorcet and became a lifelong Francophile.
...
Benefits
French colonialism did provide some benefits for Vietnamese society, most noticeable of which were improvements in education.
French missionaries, officials and their families opened primary schools and provided lessons in both French and Viet languages. The University of Hanoi was opened by colonists in 1902 and became an important national centre of learning. A quota of Viet students was given scholarships to study in France.
These changes, however, were really only significant in the cities: there was little or no attempt to educate the children of peasant farmers. The syllabuses at these schools reinforced colonial control by stressing the supremacy of French values and culture.
...
1. The French colonisation of Vietnam began in earnest in the 1880s and lasted six decades. The French justified their imperialism with a ‘civilising mission’, a pledge to develop backward nations.
2. In reality, French colonialism was chiefly driven by economic interests. French colonists were interested in acquiring land, exploiting labour, exporting resources and making profit.
3. Vietnamese land was seized by the French and collectivised into large rice and rubber plantations. Local farmers were forced to labour on these plantations in difficult and dangerous conditions.
4. The French also imposed a range of taxes on the local population and implemented monopolies on critical goods, such as opium, salt and alcohol.
5. French colonisers were relatively few in number so were assisted by Francophile collaborators among the Vietnamese people. These collaborators assisted in the administration and exploitation of French Indochina.
French Conquest of Vietnam
 In the mid-19th century, Vietnam suffered under weak leadership, revolts in the 1840s and 1850s, floods, a smallpox epidemic and tribal uprisings, France’s military activity in Vietnam began in 1857, when the French Navy attacked Danang harbour with 14 ships in response to Emperor Thieu Tri’s suppression of Catholic missionaries. Saigon was seized in early 1859 and, in 1862, Emperor Tu Duc signed a treaty that gave the French the three eastern provinces of Cochinchina.
 The French used used the persecution of Christians as an excuse to intervene in Vietnamese affairs. They had little difficulty in taking over Vietnam. The cloistered North Korean emperors were good at composing poetry, making love to dozens of women and reciting classical Chinese literature. But they lacked the ability to harness modern technology, organize a large army and sustain a modern economy. They also squandered the kingdoms's treasury building tombs and palaces in Hue.
 Between 1859 and 1883 all of Vietnam fell under French colonial control. The French defeated the Vietnamese at the Battle of Ky Hoa in 1861 and were given three eastern provinces of Cochin China by Emperor Tu Doc. In 1864—under terms that were similar to those given to the British by the Chinese after the Opium Wars—the French set up ports in Vietnam, produced opium as a cash crop which was sold to the Chinese, and required the Vietnamese to pay humiliating war reparations.
 South Vietnam (Cochin China) became a French colony. In 1884, France formed a protectorate over Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and Annam (central Vietnam) , Laos and most of what is now Cambodia. Together they constituted French Indochina.
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Hardships Under French Rule in Vietnam
 The French administration and taxation system created great inequalities of wealth. The traditional village system broke down. The French also disrupted the traditional economy, subjected forced labor to inhumane condition on rubber, tea and coffee plantations and introduced a kind of opium that made a large amount of the Vietnamese population into addicts. The French built 83 prisons but only one university. A public education system was established in 1908 as a vehicle to disseminate Western culture in Vietnam. It influenced but did not destroy Vietnamese culture.
 According to Lonely Planet: The French colonial government taxed the peasants heavily to fund the ambitious public works projects, devastating the rural economy. "Colonialism was supposed to be a profitable proposition, so operations became notorious for the low wages paid by the French and the poor treatment of Vietnamese workers. Out of the 45, 000 indentured workers at one Michelin rubber plantation, 12, 000 died of disease and malnutrition between 1917 and 1944. Shades of King Leopold’s Congo." [Source: Lonely Planet]
 Over 100,000 Vietnamese fought under the French flag in Europe in World War I. During World War I, France sought to maximize the use of Indochina's natural resources and manpower to fight the war while it cracked down on all patriotic mass movements in Vietnam. Indochina, mainly Vietnam, had to provide France with 50,000 soldiers and 49,000 workers, who were forcibly drafted from the villages to serve on the French battlefront. Indochina also contributed 184 million piastres in the form of loans and 336,000 tonnes of food. These burdens proved all the heavier as agriculture was hard hit by natural disasters from 1914 to 1917. [Source: Vietnamtourism. com, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism ~]
- hybrid warfare (some countries have obviously used it to destabilise others while some security services use it to supplement government funding), limited legitimate means of making money (some countries struggle to make money within the world economy so resort to the drug trade), limited budgets, intelligence collection (catching the big operations are easier then the small players as intelligence collection is easier), as many political and rebel movements have discovered it's the easiest of way or funding operations if all other avenues have been exhausted (Middle East, Asia, and Central/South America), etc... muddy things up completely
The US Deep state (USDS), in the 21st century, is a central organ of the supranational deep state; it controls the US government, with its "über-dominant role in the global trade in weapons"[1], the CIA, which dominates the global illegal drugs trade, the NSA and Silicon Valley (carrying out global surveillance) and the businesses of Wall St. It interlocks closely with the UK Deep state, and is the best documented deep state on this website.
“I have come to see that today's Congress itself is dominated by the deep state powers that profit from what I have called "America's Global War Machine." These so-called "statesmen" of America are as dedicated to the preservation of American dominance as were their British predecessors [a century ago].”
Peter Dale Scott (2015)  [2]
state backed drug trafficking
It has been argued that narco-states can be divided into five categories depending on their level of dependence on the narcotics trade and the threat the narcotics trade in said country poses to domestic and international stability. These five categories are (in ascending order): incipient, developing, serious, critical, and advanced.[4]
However, recent use of the term narco-state has been questioned by some for being too widely and uncritically applied, particularly following the widespread media attention given to Guinea-Bissau as "the world's first narco-state" in 2008,[5] and should instead refer only to those countries in which the narcotics trade is state-sponsored and constitutes the majority of a country's overall GDP.[6]
Family Matters Compilation - 'Did I do that' (every moment)
Earlier Urkel's Funny Moments
Do the Urkel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VVi45OU0Tk
- the money laundering thing is sort of semi-funny/morbid. Basically, neutrality means having no enemies or alliances. You're free to trade with anyone. Obviously, this has allowed some countries to do very well out of war. In fact, I hazard a guess is that they may have been better then countries and empires that have attempted to force their will upon others over the long term?
money laundering war
Don’t get me wrong. The system catches some criminals. That’s a good thing. But very little of the vast amounts of data generated points to crime. Sure, it can be said that if Westpac reported on time, more crime might have been found. (And hindsight and a multi-million litigation budget makes it easier afterwards). But it’s a big ‘might’. If Westpac had filed everything on time, it would still have been like searching for a proverbial needle in a continent of haystacks.
Overall, there’s almost no impact on crime. As I’ve noted previously, in 2011 the United Nations estimated just 0.2% of the global proceeds of crime were seized by anti-money laundering efforts. My update of the UN’s estimate (not yet published) suggests the figure might be 0.1% or less. Other research, albeit with poor data, suggests Australia’s recovery rate might be 0.38%.
The bottom line is simple, if stark. The modern anti-money laundering experiment finds some criminals but is terrible at finding enough to have any real impact on crime. Banks are a much easier target for regulators.
africa money laundering
money laundering war
world wars laundered money
NEW YORK —  The Swiss National Bank shipped 280 truckloads of Nazi gold to Spain and Portugal as part of a World War II money-laundering operation, according to newly declassified documents released Sunday.
The worth an estimated $250 million to $500 million, was carried in trucks bearing the Swiss national emblem and insured by Swiss companies, according to papers released by Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and Jewish leaders.
“These documents demonstrate that Switzerland was the international banking and laundering center of Hitler’s Germany,” said World Jewish Congress Executive Director Elan Steinberg. “This shatters to bits the notion that Switzerland was neutral during the Second World War. They were in full collaboration.”
D’Amato said the papers lent further credence to his allegations that Switzerland’s bankers and government knowingly helped Nazis launder gold they had plundered from occupied Europe and Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
The documents include a Jan. 12, 1946, memo to the head of the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, outlining evidence of the gold shipments to Madrid and Lisbon in 1943 and 1944, and the transcript of a 1945 military interrogation of the Nazi official who headed Germany’s wartime gold department.
The documents do not indicate what, if any, role officials in Spain and Portugal might have played in the laundering operation.
D’Amato declined to speculate on their involvement.
The documents were declassified at the National Archives last year and found by an archivist last week.
Many Jews put their money in Swiss banks during the Nazi era, believing their funds would be safe in the neutral country.
Families of Jews who died during the war claimed they were unable to track any assets because of banking secrecy laws.
Jewish groups claim that Swiss banks hold about $7 billion in assets and accumulated interest belonging to Jews and their survivors.
The Swiss banks say they have found only $32 million in 775 dormant accounts.
The Swiss government earlier dismissed as “blackmail” demands for a $250-million compensation fund to help Jews who lost assets during the Holocaust, but it has indicated that it might set up a smaller fund.
“We must recognize what has happened and that we cannot keep what does not belong to us,” Switzerland’s Interior Minister Ruth Dreifuss said in a newspaper interview in Geneva on Sunday.
D’Amato, who heads the Senate banking committee, has demanded that Swiss officials release information on Nazi accounts held by Swiss banks during and after the war.
Banking in Switzerland began in the early 18th century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Along with the Swiss Alps, Swiss chocolate, watchmaking and mountaineering, banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland. Switzerland has a long, kindred history of banking secrecy and client confidentiality reaching back to the early 1700s. Started as a way to protect wealthy European banking interests, Swiss banking secrecy was codified in 1934 with the passage of the landmark federal law, the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks. These secrecy laws have linked the Swiss banking system with individuals and institutions seeking to illegally evade taxes, hide assets, or generally commit financial crime.
Controversial protection of foreign accounts and assets during World War II sparked a series of proposed financial regulations seeking to temper bank secrecy to little success. Switzerland, considered the "grandfather of bank secrecy", has been one of the largest offshore financial centers and tax havens in the world since the mid-20th century. Despite an international push to meaningfully roll back banking secrecy laws in the country, Swiss social and political forces have minimized and reverted much of proposed roll backs. Although disclosing criminal activities by banks, who do not enjoy a good reputation even in Switzerland, is generally well seen by the Swiss public, disclosing client information has been considered a criminal offence since the early 1900s. Employees working in Switzerland and abroad at Swiss banks "have long adhered to an unwritten code similar to that observed by doctors or priests".[1] Since 1934, banking secrecy laws have been violated by four people: Christoph Meili (1997), Bradley Birkenfeld (2007), Rudolf Elmer (2011), and Hervé Falciani (2014).
The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) estimated in 2018 that Swiss banks held US$6.5 trillion in assets or 25% of all global cross-border assets. Switzerland's main lingual hubs, Geneva (for French), Lugano (for Italian), and Zürich (for German) service the different geographical markets. It consistently ranks in the top three states on the Financial Secrecy Index and was named first many times, most recently in 2018. The two large banks–UBS and Credit Suisse are regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), and the Swiss National Bank (NSB) which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes. Banking in Switzerland has historically played, and still continues to play, a dominant role in the Swiss economy and society. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), total banking assets amount to 467% of total gross domestic product.[2] Banking in Switzerland has been portrayed, to varying degrees of accuracy, in overall popular culture, books, movies, and television shows.
https://nicholaswilson.com/hsbc/
total laundered money global
http://www.johnwalkercrimetrendsanalysis.com.au/ML%20method.htm
How much money is laundered each year worldwide?
The estimated amount of money laundered globally in one year is 2 - 5% of global GDP, or $800 billion - $2 trillion in current US dollars.
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/money-laundering/globalization.html
How much money is laundered per year?
By its very nature, money laundering is an illegal activity carried out by criminals which occurs outside of the normal range of economic and financial statistics. Along with some other aspects of underground economic activity, rough estimates have been put forward to give some sense of the scale of the problem.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted a study to determine the magnitude of illicit funds generated by drug trafficking and organised crimes and to investigate to what extent these funds are laundered.  The report estimates that in 2009, criminal proceeds amounted to 3.6% of global GDP, with 2.7%  (or USD 1.6 trillion) being laundered.
This falls within the widely quoted estimate by the International Monetary Fund, who stated in 1998 that the aggregate size of money laundering in the world could be somewhere between two and five percent of the world’s gross domestic product.  Using 1998 statistics, these percentages would indicate that money laundering ranged between USD 590 billion and USD 1.5 trillion. At the time, the lower figure was roughly equivalent to the value of the total output of an economy the size of Spain.
However, the above estimates should be treated with caution.  They are intended to give an estimate of the magnitude of money laundering. Due to the illegal nature of the transactions, precise statistics are not available and it is therefore impossible to produce a definitive estimate of the amount of money that is globally laundered every year.  The FATF therefore does not publish any figures in this regard.
https://www.fatf-gafi.org/faq/moneylaundering/
- some cartel members obviously got very lucky. Pablo Escobar even had his own Zoo with hippopotamus? Cartels seem pretty professional, diverse range of skills, have own sub-culture, etc? They may be so strong that some governments may choose to work with then try to eradicate them? It's possible to predict who works with who based on the skills and culture of various groups?
war on drugs
https://www.history.com/topics/crime/the-war-on-drugs
Contents
1 History
1.1 19th century
1.2 20th century
1.3 21st century
2 United States domestic policy
2.1 Arrests and incarceration
2.2 Sentencing disparities
3 Commonly used illegal drugs
4 United States foreign policy and covert military activities
4.1 War in Vietnam
4.2 Operation Intercept
4.3 Operation Just Cause
4.4 Plan Colombia
4.5 Mérida Initiative
4.6 Aerial herbicide application
4.7 U.S. operations in Honduras
5 Public support and opposition in the United States and Mexico
6 Socio-economic effects
6.1 Creation of a permanent underclass
6.2 Costs to taxpayers
6.3 Impact on growers
7 Allegations of U.S. government assistance in drug trafficking
7.1 CIA and Contra cocaine trafficking
7.2 Heroin trafficking operations involving the CIA, U.S. Navy and Sicilian Mafia
8 Efficacy of the United States war on drugs
9 Legality
10 Alternatives
11 See also
12 References
13 Further reading
13.1 Government and NGO reports
14 External links
14.1 Video
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs
https://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war
Narco song of Sinaloa. RTD explores El Chapo's Sinaloa Drug Cartel
Carlos Valderrama is a vet with environmental NGO WebConserva. Not to be confused with his soccer-star namesake, he nonetheless holds a world record not even the 100-capped midfielder could compete with: Valderrama boasts of being the first person in the world to castrate a hippo in the wild. 
The animal was so big, it had to be maneuvered with a crane and the procedure took 12 hours. What's even more remarkable is that it took place in Colombia — thousands of kilometers from the hippo's native lands in Africa.  
From gray squirrels in northern Europe to feral cats in Australia, rats in New Zealand and rabbits in Australia, invasive species can throw whole ecosystems out of whack, consuming prey with no natural defenses against the invaders, or muscling out native competitors.
Most of these uncontrolled pests were introduced by humans, but Colombia's hippo invasion can be traced straight back to one particular human — none other than cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.
At the height of Escobar's criminal heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, the drug lord built a zoo on his vast Hacienda Napoles ranch between Medellin and Bogota. When he was finally killed by government forces in 1993, the ranch was left to ruin.
Other exotic species from the private menagerie, such as zebras, were moved to international and Colombian zoos, but zoos were unwilling or unable to give massive, aggressive hippos a home.
Narcoculture in Mexico is a subculture that has grown as a result of the strong presence of the various drug cartels throughout Mexico. In the same way that other subcultures around the world that are related to crime and drug use (for example the Scottish neds[1][2] and European hooligans,[3][4][5] or the American street-gangstas and outlaw bikers),[6] Mexican narco culture has developed its own form of dress, music, literature, film, religious beliefs and practices and language (slang) that has helped it become a part of the mainstream fashion in some areas of the country, mainly among lower-class, uneducated youth.[7] Narco culture is dynamic in that there are various regional differences within Mexico and among those who participate in it.
Crime is among the most urgent concerns facing Mexico, as Mexican drug trafficking rings play a major role in the flow of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transiting between Latin America and the United States. Drug trafficking has led to corruption, which has had a deleterious effect on Mexico's Federal Representative Republic. Drug trafficking and organized crime have also been a major source of violent crime in Mexico. Drug cartels and gangs have branched out and conduct alternative illegal activities for profit, including sex trafficking in Mexico.[1][2][3][4]
Mexico has experienced increasingly high crime rates, especially in major urban centers. The country's great economic polarization has stimulated criminal activity mainly in the lower socioeconomic strata, which include the majority of the country's population. Crime is increasing at high levels, and is repeatedly marked by violence, especially in the cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, and the states of Baja California, Durango, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Michoacán, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León.[5] Other metropolitan areas have lower, yet still serious, levels of crime. Low apprehension and conviction rates contribute to the high crime rate. Since many crimes go unreported, the rates may be much higher than reported by the government.[6] The murder rate in 2015 was 14 per 100,000.[7] Most of the crime is committed by a small proportion of the population involved in the drug trade with about half of murders drug related.[8]
Assault and theft make up the vast majority of crimes. While urban areas tend to have higher crime rates, as is typical in most countries, the United States–Mexico border has also been a problematic area. In 2017, Mexico witnessed a record number of murders with 29,158 homicides recorded.[9]
Mexico is Latin America's most dangerous country for journalists according to the Global Criminality Index 2016. Many of these crimes go unpunished, which has led to campaigns in the press and demonstrations highlighting the supposed 'impunity' of those responsible for murdering investigative journalists.[10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Mexico
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gang+culture
gang culture
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior. Gangs arose in America by the middle of the nineteenth century and were a concern for city leaders from the time they appeared.[1] Some members of criminal gangs are "jumped in" (by going through a process of initiation), or have to prove their loyalty and right to belong by committing certain acts, usually theft or violence. A member of a gang may be called a "gangster", or, less specifically, a "thug".
A number of gangs have gained notoriety in the course of history, including the Italian Mafia, the Russian mafia, the French mafia, the Irish mob, the Jewish mob, the Triads and crime syndicates in East Asia, the Jamaican Yardies, the African-American Bloods and Crips, Latino gangs such as the Latin Kings, MS-13, Norteños and Sureños, white supremacist gangs such as the Aryan Brotherhood, Aryan Nations and biker gangs like Hells Angels and Comanchero.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Mafia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milieu_(organized_crime_in_France)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_mob
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_mob
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triad_(organized_crime)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_syndicates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yardies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloods
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Kings_(gang)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norte%C3%B1os
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sure%C3%B1os
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Mafia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Brotherhood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Nations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biker_gang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Angels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanchero_Motorcycle_Club/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=60+days+in
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1432455747596/60-days-in-first-timers
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459620/60-days-in-cell-shock
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459623/60-days-in-fight-face
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459626/60-days-in-friends-without-benefits
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459630/60-days-in-full-inmate
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459631/60-days-in-pod-drama
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459632/60-days-in-shakedown
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459634/60-days-in-alone-for-the-holidays
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459636/60-days-in-institutionalised
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459637/60-days-in-11th-hour
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459638/60-days-in-unusual-suspects
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899459639/60-days-in-exodus
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1595120195549/60-days-in-full-story-robert-tami-and-barbara
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1595120707810/60-days-in-full-story-zac-isiah-jeff-and-maryum
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1595120707811/60-days-in-where-are-they-now
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1587899971594/60-days-in-special-the-aftermath
- incredibly frustrating trying to figure out whether the US/West has had a good or bad role to play in the world? Right from inception it seems to have been involved in war. The US/West has more experience in resolving conflicts militarily then not? A lot of conflicts it manages to deal with militarily simply end up simmering rather then being dealt with? It's difficult to know what the US/West does sometimes because they are somewhat ineffective? It's not a saint but not a complete sinner either? If you watch for long enough you can identify a person's biases and it's the same with much foreign policy. It's obvious that in spite of the nature of society that there are some naive, awkward, unprepared,  puppets, corrupt, authoritarian, etc... people in positions of power? Common theme of people trying to launder money out of war and crime zones?
The Secrets Behind the War on Drugs (Antony Loewenstein)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ISRVFXzJw8
responsibility to protect
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P or RtoP) is a global political commitment which was endorsed by all member states of the United Nations at the 2005 World Summit in order to address its four key concerns to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.[1][2]
The principle of the Responsibility to Protect is based upon the underlying premise that sovereignty entails a responsibility to protect all populations from mass atrocity crimes and human rights violations.[3][4][5] The principle is based on a respect for the norms and principles of international law, especially the underlying principles of law relating to sovereignty, peace and security, human rights, and armed conflict.[6][7]
The Responsibility to Protect provides a framework for employing measures that already exist (i.e., mediation, early warning mechanisms, economic sanctions, and chapter VII powers) to prevent atrocity crimes and to protect civilians from their occurrence. The authority to employ the use of force under the framework of the Responsibility to Protect rests solely with United Nations Security Council and is considered a measure of last resort.[8] The United Nations Secretary-General has published annual reports on the Responsibility to Protect since 2009 that expand on the measures available to governments, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society, as well as the private sector, to prevent atrocity crimes.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
The Responsibility to Protect has been the subject of considerable debate, particularly regarding the implementation of the principle by various actors in the context of country-specific situations, such as Libya, Syria, Sudan and Kenya, for example.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_to_protect
peace agreement end world war ii
united states stole nazi submarine technology
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/31/us/captured-cargo-captivating-mystery.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Treaties,_1947
German forces in Italy surrender: On 29 April, the day before Hitler died, Oberstleutnant Schweinitz and Sturmbannführer Wenner, plenipotentiaries for Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff and SS Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, signed a surrender document at Caserta[13] after prolonged unauthorised secret negotiations with the Western Allies, which were viewed with great suspicion by the Soviet Union as trying to reach a separate peace. In the document, the Germans agreed to a ceasefire and surrender of all the forces under the command of Vietinghoff at 2pm on 2 May. Accordingly, after some bitter wrangling between Wolff and Albert Kesselring in the early hours of 2 May, nearly 1,000,000 men in Italy and Austria surrendered unconditionally to British Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander at 2pm on 2 May.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_World_War_II_in_Europe
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2020/04/what-happened-to-escaped-nazis-random.html
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-12/west-papua-secret-war-with-indonesia-for-independence/12227966
You have to regularly assert the powers you claim to have, or risk losing them forever!
https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Japan-claim-the-Kuril-islands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_the_Kuril_Islands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_South_Sakhalin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_War
do sanctions work
Do Sanctions Work?
In one of the most comprehensive studies on sanctions to date, academics examined more than 100 cases and concluded that the measures were partially successful only 34% of the time.
But this success rate was heavily influenced by the type of policy change pursued, according to Newsweek. “Where it is modest - the release of a political prisoner, for example - the rate jumps up to half of cases,” the site says. “Regime change or efforts to disrupt a military adventure fare less well.”
Among the most notable failures was the US trade and travel embargo on Cuba, which lasted for more than five decades and achieved none of Washington’s policy objectives.
“More than a half-century of sanctions have not sparked a popular uprising, forced the Castros and allies from power, moderated the regime, delivered democracy, promoted economic liberalisation, cut regime ties with other communist systems, stopped foreign investment, or achieved much else of note,” Forbes reports.
The evidence suggests that the longer sanctions last, the less likely they are to succeed, says Colin Rowat, professor of economics at Birmingham University, in an article on The Conversation. “This reflects a fatigue in the countries imposing them”, as well as the target state’s “growing experience evading the sanctions”, he writes.
Indeed, North Korea has managed to sidestep UN sanctions for more than a decade. “Large avenues of trade remain open” to Kim Jong Un’s regime, allowing the country to earn foreign currency to sustain its economy and finance its nuclear weapons programme, The New York Times reports.
Sanctions also often have little impact on the ruling or military elite, argues BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus. They have “tended to hit home against the ordinary people - the ruled - rather than against the rulers who are often the real target for pressure,” he says.
The World Economic Forum notes that sanctions are less effective when applied to international foes, such as the restrictions imposed on Russia by Western powers, and can have unintended consequences.
“The sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 during the crisis over Ukraine have contributed not just to a surge in Vladimir Putin’s popularity but, more importantly, to the growth of Russian patriotism and nationalism,” the organisation says.
Washington and its coalition allies hoped that the war would bring Mr. Hussein’s downfall. Even before the war ended, President George H. W. Bush encouraged the Iraqi people to overthrow him, but there was no coherent plan. The ground offensive against Iraq ended after 100 hours, partly out of concern that American troops not occupy an Arab capital, partly because Arab allies feared the disintegration of Iraq and partly because a “100-hour war” made a good sound bite. Dick Cheney, then secretary of defense, warned that sending American forces to Baghdad would get them stuck in a “quagmire.”
This decision enabled much of the elite Republican Guard to escape with minimal losses. The first Bush administration did little to support Shiite and Kurdish uprisings that erupted immediately after the war. Mr. Hussein crushed them.
obama amateur book
south vietnam defectors
The Cold War - Diem in South Vietnam - Hamlet Program, Buddhist Crisis and Assassination - Episode 30
ngo dinh diem defense minister
north vietnamese intelligence penetration south vietnamese government
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18—The Central Intelligence Agency has told President Nixon that the Vietnamese Communists have infiltrated more than 30,000 agents into the South Vietna mese Government in an apparatus that has been virtually impossible to destroy.
...
In its analysis, the Central Intelligence Agency says that early last year, after a number of setbacks on the battlefield, the Communists decided to shift their long‐range strategy from intense military activity to po litical erosion, against the day when American troop strength would no longer be a serious threat because of withdrawals.
The enemy is confident that this strategy will succeed, the analysis pointed out. It offered no contradiction.
To carry out the new strat egy, the report asserts, the Communists stepped up their infiltration of secret agents into various branches of the South Vietnamese Government.
Most Natives of South
The study estimates that the enemy has infiltrated more than 30,000 agents—most of them natives of the southern part of divided Vietnam—into the armed forces, the police force and the South Viet namese intelligence organiza tions charged with eradicating the Vietcong guerrillas and their North Vietnamese allies. (High White House officials said that the study gave a total of about 20,000 agents, but the officials who had read it said they were certain the figure was 30,000.)
The number of such agents is said to be growing, with a goal of 50,000. If this goal is reached, the spy organization would be 5 per cent of the South Vietnamese military and police forces. The C.I.A. study doubts, however, that the Com munists achieved their goal by the end of 1969, the target date.
While the enemy operatives range from very effective to very poor, the study says, the network derives its power from the fact that the United States and the South Vietnamese Gov ernment have nothing remotely comparable.
The study describes the workings of three Communist political‐action and intelligence organizations, one of which has proven so impervious to Gov ernment countermeasures that none of its important agents have been arrested. The C.I.A. refers to the relatively few arrests to tell how Communist agents have reached into army headquarters, into President Thieu's office and even into the negotiating team at the Paris peace talks.
...
Apathy a Possible Reason
In addition, the Central In telligence Agency reports the failure of hundreds of thou sands of South Vietnamese policemen and soldiers to re port contacts by Vietcong agents. The report adds that the enemy network could not exist without the tacit complic ity—whether from fear, sym pathy or apathy—of the ma jority of South Vietnamese soldiers and policemen.
The C.I.A. cited such feelings as evidence that the Saigon Government could not com mand the deep loyalty of the men on whom it depends to defend itself.
Although the South Vietnam ese Government is infiltrated from bottom to top, the study says, the United States and Sai gon have had little success not only in penetrating the Com munist organization but also in keeping agents alive in areas the Communists control.
south vietnamese government corruption
Nao claimed that he and Hung intended to go to the other side of the river to buy new clothes at the market. To avoid delaying the operation, Nao bribed the patrol boat commander 1000 Vietnamese dong,[9] as the South Vietnamese police were widely known for their corruption. When the patrol boat commander received the bribe, he gave both Nao and Hung permission to move on but demanded another bribe when they return. When the commandos arrived at the sewer tunnel, they assembled the bomb device with each man carrying 40 kilograms (88 lb) of explosives through the tunnel.[8]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_USNS_Card
South Vietnamese officials tried to ship $73‐million worth of gold bullion— apparently belonging to President Nguyen Van Thieu and to Lon, Nol, the President of Cambodia — to Switzerland, Time magazine says in its current issue, which goes on sale today.
south vietnam
By 1956 Diem’s regime had taken clearer form. Though the South Vietnamese government presented itself to the world as a developing democracy, it was anti-democratic, autocratic, corrupt and nepotistic.
There was a National Assembly that claimed to be representative, though rigged elections meant it was nothing of the kind. The Assembly was filled with Diem’s acolytes and did little more than rubber-stamp Diem’s own policies. Freedom of the press was curtailed; writing or protesting against the government could end in a prison sentence, or worse.
The regime also eradicated Diem’s opponents, under the guise of anti-communist action. Under Nhu’s supervision, private armies launched campaigns to locate, arrest and dispose of suspected communists and sympathisers in South Vietnam. Thousands were rounded up, deported, tortured, thrown in prison or executed. According to some sources, more South Vietnamese were killed during Diem’s four-year anti-communist purge than during the First Indochina War of 1946-54.
In May 1959, Diem issued the notorious Law 10/59. This decree empowered military tribunals to impose a death sentence on anyone belonging to the Viet Minh, Lao Dong or any other communist organisation:
...
Despite its failures and rampant corruption, the Diem government did make some progress in industrialising the economy. South Vietnam’s status as a developing nation recovering from war and colonialism received extensive media coverage in the West. This prompted many Western companies to assist Saigon with trade and investment.
In 1957, Diem announced a five-year economic plan and called for foreign loans and domestic investment. Those who invested in the South Vietnamese economy, particularly its export industries, were promised government guarantees and concessions, such as lower tax rates and land rents. Local companies were subsidised and locally produced goods were protected with tariffs. Meanwhile, the government and its agencies imported much-needed equipment: factory and farm machinery, motor vehicles and raw materials such as steel and ore.
South Vietnam’s agricultural sector also recovered. Rice production boomed, growing from 70,000 tons per annum (1955) to 340,000 tons (1960). Predictably, Diem’s main trading partner during this period was the United States. Between 1954 and 1960, the US government pumped around $US1.2 billion into South Vietnam, about three-quarters of which was used to expand and bolster the military. Washington also offered incentives to American companies willing to trade with South Vietnam.
...
1. Between 1954 and 1963 South Vietnam was a nominally democratic republic, propped up by American political and financial support. In reality, there was little democratic about its government.
2. South Vietnam’s leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, claimed to head a democratic government. In reality, Diem was a petty dictator, assisted by family members, Catholic acolytes and US advisors.
3. During his rule, Ngo Dinh Diem authorised brutal campaigns against his political enemies, particularly suspected communists (1955-59) and Vietnam’s Buddhist monks (1963).
4. Diem’s social program included the failed ‘Agroville’ and ‘strategic hamlet’ resettlement programs. His economic reforms, helped by foreign trade, were more successful.
5. The United States supported Diem and his government with advisors and money, however by August 1963 Diem was a liability and Washington began investigating ways to remove him.
Empire Files
- when and how the US/West (and others) intervenes is incredibly important. If it's foreign policy was coherent, effective, honest, less cynical, just, and it was a proper policeman, etc... others may be less likely to object? The thing which always bugs me are those periods of ineffective interventions? Soviet Union, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Bosnia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Somalia, Philippines, Yemen, Rwanda, Israel, Palestine, etc... It's obvious that Russia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Myanmar, China, Mexico, Columbia, Italy, Eastern Europe, etc... may rely partly on organised crime to sustain their states? When destabilised many states obviously resort to organised crime to deal with short falls in law and order
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=western+intervention
Humanitarian Intervention _ Head To Head Debate _ Oxford Union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91WpiXu4oic
Humanitarian intervention or imperialism _ Head to Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XStlTddkHo4
BUT FIRST - 66 Years of Western Intervention Against Iran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQP4cHEHGZI
Endless War Western Intervention in Muslim Countries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8bHMuqVDzE
USA - Farage rails against Western intervention at US Conservative conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hIzYYxw7yk
Viewpoint - Ethics of U.S. Intervention in Middle East
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNf-Dwc7gKo
Western intervention in Iran, Syria and Venezuela _ George Galloway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLptx8Ab38A
Western intervention option discussed from various angles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8sMauJyeYY
Samantha Power - 'US is pulling away from its democratic allies' _ Talk to Al Jazeera
Should the US be the world's policeman - UpFront
Is America still the world's policeman
The EU is a Threat to Democracy _ Jacob Rees-Mogg _ Oxford Union
[153] U.S. Created The Terrorists We Now Fight (w_ Max Blumenthal)
America’s History Of Meddling In Foreign Elections
A Timeline of U.S. Military Involvement in Syria _ NYT News
How U.S. Involvement In Central America Led To a Border Crisis_ AJ+
Six presidents make the case for foreign intervention
U.S. intervention in Venezuela - For better or for worse
Venezuelan Crisis - The Long History Of U.S. Intervention _ AJ+
Why Venezuela Hates The United States
In politics, a mafia state is state system where the government is tied with organized crime, including when government officials, police, and/or military take part in illicit enterprises.[1] The term mafia is a reference to any organized crime groups strongly connected with the authorities.
According to the critics of the mafia state concept, the term "has now been so used and abused in popularized descriptions of organized criminal activity that it has lost much of its analytic value".[2]
According to US diplomats, defector Alexander Litvinenko coined the phrase "mafia state."[3]
Rouhani is certainly not alone in espousing this position, although he may be unique among national leaders in doing so openly. The Chinese have been dragging out trade negotiations without any intention to actually reach an agreement. The Russians see arms control negotiations with the Washingtonians as rather pointless, promising a symmetrical (but much cheaper) response to any US escalation.
Indeed, what’s the point in negotiating with Americans if, as experience has shown, they can later renege on whatever agreement has been reached on a moment’s notice? They do so either without any justification (as was most recently the case with the Syrian Kurds) or based on any sort of whimsy that happens to sound good to them at the time (as with the abandonment of the INF treaty between the US and Russia).
This point still seems worth repeating a few more times, although it has been made many times by numerous analysts and is becoming rather glaringly obvious. (The Russians even coined a new word to describe this condition: недоговороспособный (“nedogovorosposóbny,” literally “non-agreement-capable.”) But there is another point to be made, which most geopolitical observers so far seem to be missing, and which, by the way, explains Rouhani’s joyful mood at the UN, and which I am equally happy to make.
In his review of the book, commentator Thom Hartmann writes that Orlov holds that the Soviet Union hit a “soft crash” because of centralized planning in: housing, agriculture, and transportation left an infrastructure private citizens could co-opt so that no one had to pay rent or go homeless and people showed up for work, even when they were not paid. He writes that Orlov believes the U.S. will have a hard crash, more like Germany’s Weimar Republic of the 1920s.[10]
About this book:In 1993, as a 23-year-old correspondent covering the wars in the Balkans, I was initially comforted by the roar of NATO planes flying overhead. President Clinton and other western leaders had sent the planes to monitor the Bosnian war, which had killed almost 200,000 civilians. But it soon became clear that NATO was unwilling to target those engaged in brutal "ethnic cleansing." American statesmen described Bosnia as "a problem from hell," and for three and a half years refused to invest the diplomatic and military capital needed to stop the murder of innocents. In Rwanda, around the same time, some 800,000 Tutsi and opposition Hutu were exterminated in the swiftest killing spree of the twentieth century. Again, the United States failed to intervene. This time U.S. policy-makers avoided labeling events "genocide" and spearheaded the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers stationed in Rwanda who might have stopped the massacres underway. Whatever America's commitment to Holocaust remembrance (embodied in the presence of the Holocaust Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C.), the United States has never intervened to stop genocide. This book is an effort to understand why. While the history of America's response to genocide is not an uplifting one, "A Problem from Hell" tells the stories of countless Americans who took seriously the slogan of "never again" and tried to secure American intervention. Only by understanding the reasons for their small successes and colossal failures can we understand what we as a country, and we as citizens, could have done to stop the most savage crimes of the last century.-Samantha Power
...
During the three years (1993-1996) Samantha Power spent covering the grisly events in Bosnia and Srebrenica, she became increasingly frustrated with how little the United States was willing to do to counteract the genocide occurring there. After much research, she discovered a pattern: "The United States had never in its history intervened to stop genocide and had in fact rarely even made a point of condemning it as it occurred," she writes in this impressive book. Debunking the notion that U.S. leaders were unaware of the horrors as they were occurring against Armenians, Jews, Cambodians, Iraqi Kurds, Rwandan Tutsis, and Bosnians during the past century, Power discusses how much was known and when, and argues that much human suffering could have been alleviated through a greater effort by the U.S. She does not claim that the U.S. alone could have prevented such horrors, but does make a convincing case that even a modest effort would have had significant impact. Based on declassified information, private papers, and interviews with more than 300 American policymakers, Power makes it clear that a lack of political will was the most significant factor for this failure to intervene. Some courageous U.S. leaders did work to combat and call attention to ethnic cleansing as it occurred, but the vast majority of politicians and diplomats ignored the issue, as did the American public, leading Power to note that "no U.S. president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on." This powerful book is a call to make such indifference a thing of the past. --Shawn Carkonen
Pax Americana is a term applied to the concept of relative peace in the Western Hemisphere and later the world beginning around the middle of the 20th century, thought to be caused by the preponderance of power enjoyed by the United States.
Yale's Genocide Studies
- I've been looking for and at auto-correlations from my enumeration experiments. I've been thinking I can use similar technology to mine through medical, marketing, scientific, government information, historical, etc? Much more similar to the intelligence that you associate with human and animal thinking. Not simple but not impossible either. It's also obvious how/why some countries value mass scale surveillance so heavily? You can figure weed out a lot of covert operations as long as you know the target and their intentions (like I said earlier I don't really believe in AI technology as it currently stands. I'd like a stronger fusion between human intelligence/intuition and AI)? In the context of proxy warfare and hybrid warfare you can more easily figure out who the source may be as well? It's obvious that a lot of groups may have gone underground now and may be using proxies/fences/cutouts (some of the really obvious players are governments, organised crime, religious groups, supremacy groups, political groups that straddle the line into terrorism, and MNC/TNCs)? It makes you wonder how some of the bigger operations are funded? It's hard to get a track of things outside of the United States because of Google's limited crawling and indexing?
A GOOD AMERICAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=666wsDcoNrU
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2020/01/data-science-pattern-matching-hpc.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2020/02/cybersecurity-attack-background.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-occupy-movement-veterans-for-peace.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/12/shale-oil-some-us-intelligencedefense.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/12/us-drone-warfare-program-financial.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/12/some-counter-terrorism-defense.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/11/middle-easternafricanasian-background.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2016/04/hybrid-warfare-more-psyops-and-more.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2016/03/psychological-warfaremind-control-more.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/12/us-drone-warfare-program-financial.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/11/china-background-economic-warfare-and.html
diffbot open source
https://www.diffbot.com/benefits/comparison/
https://www.diffbot.com/products/crawlbot/
https://www.diffbot.com/products/knowledge-graph/
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-any-open-source-web-scraping-tool-such-as-Scrapinghub-or-DiffBot
find social network graph
https://medium.com/neo4j/finding-influencers-and-communities-in-the-graph-community-e3d691296325
https://neo4j.com/graph-algorithms-book/
https://neo4j.com/lp/book-graph-algorithms-thanks/
global hate groups -usa -united -states (via google)
khmer rouge
The Khmer Rouge was a brutal regime that ruled Cambodia, under the leadership of Marxist dictator Pol Pot, from 1975 to 1979. Pol Pot’s attempts to create a Cambodian “master race” through social engineering ultimately led to the deaths of more than 2 million people in the Southeast Asian country. Those killed were either executed as enemies of the regime, or died from starvation, disease or overwork. Historically, this period—as shown in the film The Killing Fields—has come to be known as the Cambodian Genocide.
supremacist groups
black supremacist groups
Contents
1 Historical trends
2 Groups by type
2.1 Ku Klux Klan
2.2 Neo-Nazi
2.3 White nationalist
2.4 Racist skinheads
2.5 Extreme antigovernment movement
2.6 Black separatist/nationalist
2.7 Neo-Confederate
2.8 Christian Identity
2.9 Anti-LGBT
2.10 Anti-immigrant
2.11 Holocaust denial
2.12 Male supremacy
2.13 Neo-Völkisch
2.14 Hate music
2.15 Radical traditional Catholicism
2.16 Anti-Muslim
2.17 Other
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
Don’t bullshit a bullshitter
Inside Man 2006 (Scene)
“The real winners of the cold war were Nazi war criminals, many of whom were able to escape justice because the East and West became so rapidly focused after the war on challenging each other,” says Eli Rosenbaum, director of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations and America’s chief Nazi hunter. Rosenbaum serves on a Clinton-appointed Interagency Working Group (IWG) committee of U.S. scholars, public officials, and former intelligence officers who helped prepare the CIA records for declassification.
Many Nazi criminals “received light punishment, no punishment at all, or received compensation because Western spy agencies considered them useful assets in the cold war,” the IWG team stated after releasing 18,000 pages of redacted CIA material. (More installments are pending.)
"The Odessa existed and they removed billions of dollars in looted Jewish assets from Germany," Elan Steinberg, executive director at the World Jewish Congress (WJC), said. "Their plan was to re-establish the Nazi Party from safe havens outside Germany and many of the assets they smuggled out must still exist." The WJC is seeking to recover Jewish assets which were stolen by the Nazis.

Random Stuff:
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- latest in science and technology
script upload youtube
html5 streaming code
- latest in finance and politics
The Australian: Investing in Africa via Oz miners
Coronavirus: YouTube tightens rules after David Icke 5G interview
- latest in defense and intelligence
- latest in animal news
- latest in music and entertainment
https://www.yankodesign.com/2020/05/14/this-formula-1-car-design-bridges-the-gap-between-race-cars-and-fighter-jets/

Random Quotes:
- The Chinese embassy, ruffled, responded accordingly, using the Global Times as their platform. In the view of a spokesperson, Dutton would surely have consulted the US documents before enthusiastically launching into an attack on China. “Obviously he must have also received some instructions from Washington requiring him to cooperate with the US in its propaganda war against China.” Cheng has not shied away from threats, suggesting that a boycott of Australian goods would be an appropriate response to any Australian-led inquiry. “Maybe the ordinary people will say, ‘Why should he drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?’”
As with much in such spluttering accusation, kernels of truth are discernible in the foam. Australia remains the unquestioned sentinel of US designs in the Asia-Pacific, and should never be confused with being with the angels of impartiality. Any sense of that was killed off in the brief and dying days of the Whitlam government. Washington sees Canberra as a natural front for Chinese containment, though such an effort requires gentle padding and coating to lend a certain plausible effect. This involves, for instance, the avoidance of terms such as the “militarisation” of Northern Australia, or US “garrisons” operating on home soil. Terms such as “rotation” and “friendship” are preferred.
Sentiment in Australia against Beijing is now almost militant, watered by claims of domestic interference from the PRC, cyberwarfare, and disputes in the South China Sea. It is to be found in the usual pea-shot pugilists at Sky News to the otherwise more cautious assessments in Fairfax and The Guardian Australia. “At the moment,” suggests Richard McGregor, “Beijing is like someone who lends you a book and urges you to skip the horrifying opening chapters and flip straight to the end, where the hero – in this case, the party-state – prevails, shining a path for the rest of the world to follow.”
An international investigation along the lines being proposed by Australia would also involve its own bit of chapter skipping, with China being found to be the villain at the yawn-inducing conclusion. Such bodies of inquiry tend to suffer from an oxymoronic emphasis, since the investigators run the risk of already having their conclusions ahead of time. In all of this, someone has to pay. Partiality is lost in the zeal of getting a conviction, or finding a cause.
- That “something” was the Zionist movement. Penslar said that while Herzl was “not an observant, learned Jew,” he “certainly knew he was Jewish,” and by the early 1890s “he began to think about alternatives that might solve the problem of anti-Semitism.”
Famous picture of Theodor Herzl on the balcony of the Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel, Switzerland (photo credit: CC-PD-Mark, by Wikigamad, Wikimedia Commons)
Famous picture of Theodor Herzl on the balcony of the Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel, Switzerland (photo credit: CC-PD-Mark, by Wikigamad, Wikimedia Commons)
Herzl promoted one such alternative — a Jewish national home — in Der Judenstaat. This work denounced both anti-Semitism and the oppression of the working class. It connected Herzl with an international movement creating Jewish settlement in Palestine, then ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Herzl overcame his reluctance to adopt an increasingly used term: Zionism.
Although Herzl could not attract support from great Jewish philanthropists of the era, he used his charismatic leadership to assemble a diverse coalition of his people. Orthodox and secular, Central and Eastern Europeans, Yiddish speakers and Hebrew revivalists all came together for the First Zionist Congress in Basel.
“The Zionist Congress was a kind of space the world had not seen before,” Penslar said. “It was largely, really, his work alone.”
Penslar noted that Herzl had to deal with “very powerful personalities” and “different ideological views,” including revered poet Asher Ginzberg, better-known by his Hebrew pen name Ahad Ha’am, who “dismissed him as a fool with no Judaic learning.”
Also, not all Jews supported Zionism. “Most Jews of the time did not ignore anti-Semitism, but did not have a solution like Herzl had in mind,” Penslar said, adding that they considered him “myopic at best and dangerous at worst.”
...
Today, the well-known Mount Herzl is its namesake’s final resting place. Yet the book cites a statistic that only about half of all young Israelis know who he was.
“People know him as somebody famous, somebody important, but the more specific context is fading,” Penslar said.
The author hopes his book will be published in Hebrew so it may inspire “renewed understanding of his greatness, the personal qualities of greatness coming from a troubled, even tormented person.”
- Back in Moscow he began systematically combing the KGB archives for consistent patterns observable in the postings of CIA counterparts. The research was extended to take in the records of the KGB's allies, Cuba and the Warsaw Pact. The open source literature from the United States was also exploited to the full. And wherever possible access was obtained to data compiled by the local police authorities.
What Totrov came up with were 26 unchanging indicators as a model for identifying U.S. intelligence officers overseas. Other indicators of a more trivial nature could be detected in the field by a vigilant foreign counterintelligence operative but not uniformly so: the fact that CIA officers replacing one another tended to take on the same post within the embassy hierarchy, drive the same make of vehicle, rent the same apartment and so on. Why? Because the personnel office in Langley shuffled and dealt overseas postings with as little effort as required.
The invariable indicators took further research, however, based on U.S. government practices long established as a result of the ambivalence with which the State Department treated its cousins in intelligence.
Thus one productive line of inquiry quickly yielded evidence: the differences in the way agency officers undercover as diplomats were treated from genuine foreign service officers (FSOs). The pay scale at entry was much higher for a CIA officer; after three to four years abroad a genuine FSO could return home, whereas an agency employee could not; real FSOs had to be recruited between the ages of 21 and 31, whereas this did not apply to an agency officer; only real FSOs had to attend the Institute of Foreign Service for three months before entering the service; naturalized Americans could not become FSOs for at least nine years but they could become agency employees; when agency officers returned home, they did not normally appear in State Department listings; should they appear they were classified as research and planning, research and intelligence, consular or chancery for security affairs; unlike FSOs, agency officers could change their place of work for no apparent reason; their published biographies contained obvious gaps; agency officers could be relocated within the country to which they were posted, FSOs were not; agency officers usually had more than one working foreign language; their cover was usually as a “political” or “consular” official (often vice-consul); internal embassy reorganizations usually left agency personnel untouched, whether their rank, their office space or their telephones; their offices were located in restricted zones within the embassy; they would appear on the streets during the working day using public telephone boxes; they would arrange meetings for the evening, out of town, usually around 7.30 p.m. or 8.00 p.m.; and whereas FSOs had to observe strict rules about attending dinner, agency officers could come and go as they pleased.
As soon becomes evident on reading, the fact that Totrov was able to produce telephone book-size volumes of CIA and other intelligence officers for KGB chief Yuri Andropov testified to the structural defects within the U.S. government in the relationship between its key operational departments in the sphere of foreign policy. All Totrov did, once apprised of this crucial flaw, was follow through schematically and draw out the pattern. This was human intelligence of the highest order and an acute embarrassment, once known, to those responsible for the conduct of U.S. foreign intelligence.
- But history is turning. Mahbubani says the West has been at the forefront of history for 200 years, but now must adapt to a world it no longer dominates. The "End of History mantra", he says, did a lot of "brain damage".
Having won the Cold War the West "went on autopilot".
The September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global financial crisis of 2008 helped snap the West out of its slumber.
But when it came to China it was still complacent.
As China manipulated its currency, monopolised supply chains, ran up big trade surpluses, extended its economic and political reach into the Pacific, Central Asia and Africa, and as it launched its massive belt and road initiative — a 21st century Silk Road of investment and infrastructure spanning 70 countries — we in the West still believed China would inevitablzi stealty become like us.
We would not listen.
- An American soldier of fortune captured during a botched attempt to seize Venezuela’s leader has claimed his group had plotted to raid Nicolas Maduro’s presidential palace before spiriting him away “however necessary”.
Airan Berry, 41, was one of two US mercenaries captured by Venezuelan security forces this week after what appears to have been a catastrophically executed attempt to topple Maduro by sneaking into the South American country in a pair of weather-beaten fishing boats.
In an edited televised confession, broadcast by Venezuelan state television on Thursday, Berry claimed one of the group’s key objectives was to commandeer the heavily fortified Miraflores palace in the capital, Caracas.
Asked how they planned to extract Maduro from the 19th-century building, the Iraq veteran answered, “I’m not exactly sure – however necessary.”
Berry said the group had also planned to “secure the airstrip” at La Carlota, a military airbase at the heart of Venezuela’s capital, in order to fly Maduro out of the country.
The base is six miles west of the Miraflores palace and was the scene of a failed attempt to spark a military uprising against Maduro on 30 April last year.
Asked where the plane would have taken Maduro, Berry, a former special forces engineer sergeant in the US army, replied, “I assume that it is the United States.”
Berry’s declarations were broadcast one day after a similar video featuring the group’s other North American member, Luke Denman.
Denman, 34, told his interrogators his mission had been to apprehend Maduro and take him to the US. “I thought I was helping Venezuelans take back control of their country,” he said.
There was no sign any lawyers were present during either alleged confession, or that the men were not speaking under duress.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ephraim Mattos, a former Navy Seal who knows Denman, said the former special forces soldier appeared to signal he was speaking under duress by moving his eyes while talking about Donald Trump’s supposed involvement in the planned attack.
“He looks off screen real quick,” Mattos told the newspaper. “That’s him clearly signaling that he’s lying. It’s something that special forces guys are trained to do.”
Berry named two other highly sensitive targets in his statement: the installations of Venezuela’s military counter-intelligence service, DGCIM, and the Bolivarian national intelligence service, Sebin.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised eyebrows this week by denying “direct” involvement in the plot.
The Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has also been linked to the conspiracy, has denied currently being involved with the US-based private security firm that employed Berry and Denman. But his spokespeople have declined to say whether they previously did have such connections.
- The working principles behind the device are simple: Instead of using conventional microwaves, the researchers entangle two groups of photons, which are called the signal and idler photons. The signal photons are sent out towards the object of interest, whilst the idler photons are measured in relative isolation, free from interference and noise. When the signal photons are reflected back, true entanglement between the signal and idler photons is lost, but a small amount of correlation survives, creating a signature or pattern that describes the existence or the absence of the target object—irrespective of the noise within the environment.
"What we have demonstrated is a proof of concept for the microwave quantum radar," says lead author Shabir Barzanjeh, whose previous research helped advance the theoretical notion behind quantum enhanced radar technology. "Using entanglement generated at a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero (-273.14 °C), we have been able to detect low reflectivity objects at room-temperature."
- Memphis is home to “Ya Ya”, a 16 year old female, and Le Le, a 19-year-old male. The pair have never successfully reproduced, something notoriously problematic for pandas – females are only fertile for between 24 and 72 hours in any given year, while males often lack ardor.
- A secretive military space plane will soon test the idea of using microwave beams to send solar power to Earth from space. The U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane is expected to launch into orbit Saturday (May 16) with an experiment onboard that tests the possibility.
The Photovoltaic Radiofrequency Antenna Module Flight Experiment (PRAM-FX) represents the first orbital test of such a sci-fi technology since the 19th century — solar satellite power. Build a big solar array in orbit, the idea goes, and it could collect enough sunlight (unfiltered by atmospheric effects or clouds,) to generate a powerful beam of microwaves. A collection station on Earth would then convert that beam into useful power. Launch any satellite into a high enough orbit and it will receive a near-constant stream of sunlight, with only brief passes through the Earth's shadow. A whole constellation of solar arrays might offer uninterrupted 24/7 power.
"The idea got a lot of attention, and sort of came into its own in the late 60s, early 70s, when there became an imperative to explore energy sources other than fossil fuels ," when fossil fuel supplies became unstable and prices skyrocketed, said Paul Jaffe, a civilian electronics engineer at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and leader of the NRL's beamed energy research.
- The Hezbollah chief was making the speech on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Twelfth Shia Imam, Imam Mahdi. The religious icon, who is also known as the Imam of Time, commands special respect among Shia Muslims, who strongly believe in his pending reappearance as the Savior of humanity from oppression and suffering.
“The more the crises increase, the more people of all religions believe that the arrival of a savior is approaching,” he noted.
“As an outcome of all the wars, viruses, hunger, oppression… humanity will get tired, and with the fall of the ideologies, intellectual systems and cultures, humanity will give up on any solution offered by people, so they will return to God. Then, God will allow those (saviors) to appear,” Nasrallah said.
- "This crisis — like earlier ones — could well be the catalyst to shower aid on the wealthiest interests in society, including those most responsible for our current vulnerabilities, while offering next to nothing to the most workers, wiping out small family savings and shuttering small businesses. But as this video shows, many are already pushing back — and that story hasn’t been written yet."
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Saving Money (without Sacrificing), Random Stuff, and More

- use price matching when you can to get an extra discount. Note, a lot of companies advertise low prices just to get you through the door. ...